The Chaos Wars, part III
by Subieko
Summary: There's no escaping the Overlord. A runaway Chaos slave finds herself seeking shelter in the Shadow World, but the Chaos Army hunts her down and captures Yuugi in the bargain.
1. Escape

Author's note:  It's the third section of the Chaos Wars!  To everyone who reads this, thank you so much for deciding to read my fanfic.  I hope you like it!  If the last section was confusing because of all the weird places, don't worry--this one is a bit simpler place-wise (no explanations on the nature of reality!  Yay! -__-''').  And, since I can't put review responses to the last chapter of Section II in section II, here they are.

Serafinamoon: first of all, thank you so much for reading the entire story!  ^___^  Heh, don't worry about typos…I'm a bad typist whether I can see or not!  Yeah, Yami kind of…messes things up this whole section…gotta give him credit for trying, though.  ^___^;;;  Well, he really _doesn't_ know what he's talking about—he only has a few years worth of memory, even less if you only count the time since he's been more personified.  ….fighting?  Well, I think there's a battle….it depends on what you define as "fighting."  ^__^;;;  Thank you so much for reading!  I hope you like this section.  ^______^ 

Chapter 1--Escape

            Her bare feet pounded the barren earth, legs pumping like pistons.  Her small size and slight, malnourished body were no indicator of her speed; a life of dodging and dashing had given her strong legs to sprint with.  But this was no quick trip, no lightning-reflex escape.  This was life and death determined by endurance.

This was a marathon with survival as its goal, and she could only pray her strength would not fail.

            She had stolen the Gater from the communications room; it had been easy enough to think of an excuse to go there.  Who would question someone like her, seemingly following orders?  No one would think anything of it.  She had gone in, externally calm even though every nerve in her body was on fire and her heart was racing so fast she thought it would burst.

That's how fast she had to be now--as fast as that heartbeat.

            The hum of voices was always present in that room--harsh voices shouting orders, low voices of people mulling over a problem, tired voices of people working a double shift.  It was where the new orders were received, where updates and information were downloaded, where ideas were shared.  It wasn't somewhere she would normally go, but she was on her own mission now.

            She could hear voices now, coming after her.  Angry voices, voices that wanted to rip and tear.  She put forth the last of her strength in a final effort to outrun them.

            The Gaters had a special shelf all to themselves, along with the maps and lists of coordinates on the wall.  Complex charts and diagrams glared down at anyone foolish enough to try deciphering them.  The bin was usually locked, but on a busy day like that one, there was a good chance someone would forget to shut it.  It was just such a chance she had been banking on, and it had come that day, after hours of waiting.  Just before she was about to give up and go back, as she had on all her other attempts, it happened--someone turned away, just for a moment, and there they were.  The Gaters.                                                                                            

            A quick dip of the wrist, close the fist, not too tightly so no one would suspect anything, then dash off again on some fictitious errand.  The others would create the diversion while she made for the exit.  She had to get out of the base to use the Gater, and she needed time to figure out how to work it.  She got only a few yards start before they had realized the truth and gone out after her.  Now she was running for her life, her future, her freedom--running with everything she had so she wouldn't lose it all.

They were gaining on her.  She had lived all her life in misery and squalor, not ideal conditions for developing athletic ability.  They had trained day in and day out to be ready if a situation like this should arise.

In short, the odds were against her.

            The odds didn't matter now; nothing mattered but to keep running, to keep moving her legs up and down, to keep going forward, to not trip, to not stumble.  Every second counted now; she had to hurry.  Nothing mattered but the goal.  The goal was everything, blocking out all other thoughts in her mind but to run.  To run and run and never stop running.

            They were coming closer.  Soon now she would be unable to run any farther.  Soon now she would collapse, and they would drag her back, would make her wish to die before they were through.

_Can't give up...must...keep running...!_

            She had to run; she had to live.  She couldn't give up, couldn't let this plan fail as so many others had.  This had to be the time--there would be no other.

            Her legs were on fire, her breath scraped her throat like sandpaper.  If she didn't hurry, it would all be over.  She fell to her knees, unable to rise.  Her fist unclenched, and the Gater clattered to the ground.  Slowly, so slowly, she turned to look at it.

            She had programmed it with the first set of coordinates she saw--they had been right at the top of the wall, under a large sign with many shapes she could not understand.  She didn't know or care where it would take her--anywhere was better than here.

Her hand shook violently as she reached out to touch it, to press the button that would take her away from this nightmare.  She could hear them coming, could feel the ground tremble with the pounding of their feet.  The Gater was shadowed by her hand as her finger inched toward the button.  Slowly, far too slowly, her finger pressed down with the last of her strength.

There was a brilliant flash of light, and she Gated out, unconscious.

*****

"Where did that little rat go!?"

"It must have Gated out--now we'll have to track it down before word of this gets around.  Can you imagine what they would _say_?"

"Worse--think of the impact on the others.  No, we have to catch it.  There's no margin for error on this one."

"But where would it go?  You don't honestly believe one of _them_ knows how to work a Gating Device, do you?  They can't even read!"

"Still...perhaps it somehow managed to swipe a Gater with coordinates already programmed in.  That must be what happened...filthy little pickpocket."

They all stood in a loose circle around the spot where she had left that World.  The were bloody footprints on the ground leading up to it, disturbed earth where she had fallen, but nothing more.  She had gone, and they had no idea where.  Only one member of the expedition remained silent, contemplating.

_How much longer can I hold on?  I don't know if I can take any more of this..._

"Let's head back, everyone--we'll have to report this, I suppose..."

"Yes, well.  It's not as if it's our fault, communications should get most of the blame."

"It won't matter who's to blame if we don't get it back--we'll all be in for it."

They trooped slowly back across the empty landscape, returning through the great gates and locking them behind.  They had failed in the first run; now the long haul would begin.

*****

            It was night in this World, a night very different from the one she had left.  It was still here, but not the death-filled stillness of Dark World; this was a peaceful stillness, a stillness that told of calm and quiet.  This was a good World to hide in--they wouldn't think to look for her here.  Yes, she would stay here.  Soon she must get up and find out where exactly she had arrived, and think of a way to blend in...but first she needed to rest a moment...just a moment...then she would go....

The cold, silent stars shone down on the sleeping child lying in a ditch beside the road.


	2. Strangers

Author's note: Thank you for reviewing, Mitsuko-chan and Chace!  Mitsuko-chan, I'm glad you liked the chapter.  ^___^  Chace, I'm glad you liked it too.  I hope you like this chapter too! 

Chapter 2--Strangers

            The sun rose to an ordinary spring day.  The people of this city are waking up, going about their business, doing all the things they normally do--nothing unusual here.  Or so it might seem to the casual observer....

One person in this city is already awake.

            Late last night, _something_ woke him up....but what was it?  That is what he is trying to figure out, he and his Guardian partner.  They both felt an intrusion into their World, but they don't know that this is what that feeling was.  They have only recently discovered that they are Guardians, and many of their abilities are still unfamiliar to them.  This is the way of the Guardians; they develop their abilities gradually, as they become more experienced.  Ordinarily, the learning process goes perfectly fine.  This child, however, is anything but ordinary.

This is Yugi Mutou, and he is hunted by the master of a terrible army--the Overlord.

            Next to Yugi is his Guardian partner, Yami.  The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle is less worried than his corporal counterpart; he assumes that if no one is running through the streets screaming, nothing too dire can have happened.  They are both uneasy, however.  It is wise to be so when an army of Chaotic creatures wants to capture you alive at any cost.

"Whatever it was, it doesn't seem like anything went wrong.  It's probably nothing."

"How would you know?"

"What is it you think happened?"

"I'm not sure, but it felt like....like someone _came_."

"Came from where?  And why?"

"That's just it--I don't know."

"If someone dangerous is here, we'll know soon enough--crazy psychopaths usually have a thing for terrorizing the masses."

"Is that supposed to be reassuring?"

"Why would it be?"

"Never mind..."

            Neither of them can pinpoint what exactly happened, so they have no choice but to ignore it, for now.  It probably _is_ nothing; after all, what could have gone wrong?

They don't know just how wrong--or right--they are.

            She is not especially dangerous, at least not to them, but she brings danger with her.  She does not intend to; escapists rarely leave without a fight.  They don't know that she has come, or where she is, but if she is found, their whole World could be in danger.

*****

            She sat up slowly, yawning.  She had only meant to rest for a moment, but perhaps it was better this way--the sleep had restored her strength, and she was ready to explore the World she had taken refuge in, albeit with no other options; there had been little time to choose.

_Wonder why they had Gate coordinates for this World...it doesn't look too special._

            There was no time to waste wondering.  She had to find out more about this World, and find some way to blend in.  As it was, she would stick out like a sore thumb.  She had no way of knowing what was considered a normal appearance in this World, but for now...the long, black cloak she had stolen would suffice to hide her identity.  Ripping off fabric from the hem until the length was right, she formed the torn-off material into a veil to cover her face, also wrapping her feet to prevent tell-tale footprints.  Now she was ready to face the World, whatever it might hold.  But where to go?

_Hmm...gotta__ go somewhere with a lot of people...learn more about them...how to blend in....somewhere with information..._

She began walking down the street she had Gated in beside.  It had to lead somewhere, and hopefully that somewhere would be what she was looking for.

*****

_Remind me again why we're going here._

"Because I need books from the library for school."

_The stuff you do for school is really stupid._

"Someday when you rule the World, you can change it."

_Me ruling the World...where'd you get a crazy idea like that?_

"I was being sarcastic."

_You?__  Being sarcastic?  It must be the apocalypse._

"Shh--you have to be quiet in the library."

_Why?  No one but you can hear me._

"It's the principle of it."__

_Fine..._

*****

            She looked at the building.  It was large to her eyes, the eyes of one who has spent all of their life indoors in the same place.  People were going in and out, some holding what looked like stacks of paper attached on one side...she couldn't understand the concept of it at all.  She stood looking at the doors for a long time, examining their wooden construction (and marveling that the doors were not steel), and looking with interest at the two strange stone creatures on either side of the door.  They had large, slightly pointed faces with a great deal of hair all around, and their hands and feet were the same rounded-looking pads...all in all, bizarre things.  She had no idea that they were lions, having never seen one in her life; she had never even seen a housecat.  Finally, she went inside the building.

It was amazing!

            She had never seen anything like it before--the paper stacks were on shelves, going right up to the ceiling, and people were taking them off and looking at them, reading them, occasionally bringing them to a large table-like area at the entrance of the building and handing them to a lady to be stamped and handed back, after which the paper-takers were apparently allowed to leave.  She thought this, at least, made some sense; no one would allow valuable documents to be removed without some verification of identity.  She walked along through the different rooms of the building, not daring to touch the shelved paper stacks lest someone demand to know who she was.

            She had no idea that she was inside a library, or that the things on the shelves were books and anyone could take one with only a library card.  She would have thought it impossible for someone to obtain a "library card" (the closest thing she knew was an access card) for free, and not be at least fingerprinted.  This whole World was strange to her, and she continued on through the building, staring at the things around her and attracting many stares herself.  It was so incredible...so impossible.

            Distracted as she was, she had the bad luck to run into someone who was paying as little attention to their surroundings as she was.

"Ow!  Watch where you're going!"

"Oh....sorry...."

She_ was the one who ran into _you_, why are you apologizing?_

"Because it's polite--and what makes you think they were a she?"

_Maybe her voice?_

"Oh right..."

_Hey--where'd she go?_

            Yugi looked around, but there was no sign of the mysterious, cloaked stranger who had run into him.  Who had she been, and why had she been so oddly dressed?  Yugi couldn't put his finger on it, but there had been something unsettling about her, whoever she was.  Where had she come from?  It might have seemed trivial to someone else, but not to a Guardian.

"...who do you think she was?"

_How should I know?  You have enough problems without worrying about some weirdo who wanders around in libraries._

"Well....I guess so...."

_And you might want to stop talking...people will think you're crazy again.  Anyway, I thought you said you're supposed to be quiet in libraries._

"Oh yeah...sorry..."

            She watched the strange boy from behind a large bookshelf.  The people of this World were certainly odd...and that one kept talking to himself.  She didn't really see anything strange about it--she just assumed he was talking to someone invisible, so she quickly left the building.  This place was too bizarre for her.

*****

            Later, hidden in the bushes beside the road she had Gated in next to, she lit a small, smokeless fire.  A lifetime of labor made her easily able to survive in this new place.  She ate nothing that night; she was used to hunger.  This World was strange, but she would find a way to live.  She had to.


	3. Visitors and Voices

Chapter 3--Visitors and Voices

      The thing that struck her most was the greenness.  This place was full of life, full of vibrant energy the like of which she had never seen before.  It was dark and cold in the place she lived, or rather tried to remain alive.  Her "home" was not a place that welcomed life.  Death was everywhere, and there were none of these growing things, these..._plants_.  That was what they were called--plants.  She had heard the word used once or twice, known its meaning, but to see them for herself...it was another matter entirely.  Everywhere she looked in this strange World, things were moving, growing, _living_ with such wanton energy that it was almost frightening after a life of whispers and despair.  Even the tree in which she was now perched was a burst of life, its green leaves dappled with sunlight as the warm air tossed its branches playfully.  This World was so strange...so _happy_.  It was something she could never have imagined in all her wildest dreams, and she had had many.

     She glanced down again at the small group she was observing.  After running into the strange person at the building of papers the previous day, she had decided to find out more about him, and had been fortunate enough to find him.  This place they were in was strange to her, but everything here was.  It was meaningless to her that nearly all the people in this place were young, or that they were all dressed similarly.  She had no way of knowing or guessing that this was a school, that the people were students, and that most of them were perfectly normal people leading perfectly normal lives, untroubled by wars in other Worlds.

She did not know that most of them were normal; she did know that at least one was not.

     She continued to watch the little group of four, all sitting at a table.  She couldn't fathom what they were doing; moving bits of paper around, taking them off stacks and putting them on the table, sometimes moving them from one stack to another.  It was as meaningless to her as the building and the people; she had no concept of games, no concept of doing something for fun.  There was no such thing as pleasure in her life.  Her life was nothing but pain.

     If she had to guess, she would say that they were human.  She had seen enough different species to narrow it down, but she had no concept of this world's manner of dress or appearance.  In her life, every piece of clothing, ever hair and every inch of height, had meaning.  Everything she knew about people was based on appearance, and these people's appearances were unlike those she had seen in her own life.

     The three humans were sitting on one side of the table, watching two of their number move the pieces of paper around.  The only female member of the group seemed strange to her, but only because the human was smiling; people didn't smile without reason in her life.  She couldn't understand why any of them should be smiling or happy, as nothing seemed to be going on.  The human girl was normal for her World, with large blue eyes and short brown hair, but of course this did not seem normal at all to her.  In her life, only important people were allowed to have long hair, so she of course assumed that the human girl must be some kind of underling.  In her life, all people were categorized in terms of power and importance; she had no concept of friendship, of alliance for alliance sake.

      The second human observer was male, and taller than the girl.  He had dark hair, also short, but that was slightly more logical; the fact that it was combed into a peak at the center of his head was just bizarre.  She decided to skip over this one for now; he was too strange for her to understand.

      The last human was one of the two moving the pieces of paper around.  She thought he must be of some importance, because his hair was longer than the other two; it was blond, hanging mop-like around his face.  But, to her surprise, he didn't seem to be in charge; none of them were.  They were just sitting there, moving the papers, watching, smiling...none of their actions seemed logical.  Perhaps looking at the last one would yield some answers.

      This was the one she was interested in, the one she had run into.  This one was sitting with his back to her, so she couldn't see his face, but she was sure it was the same one; there was no mistaking it.  She was sure this one could not be human, mostly because she didn't think he could possibly be the same species as the other three; slaves usually weren't.  There were several things that made her think he was a slave.  He was much smaller than the others, for one thing; his feet didn't even reach the ground from the bench he was sitting on.  In her life, height signified importance; being _that_ small meant you had to be a slave of some sort.  Slaves were so malnourished and overworked their growth was nearly always stunted.  His clothing only supported her theory; he was wearing a filthy, ragged coat, nearly falling apart.  Slaves' clothing was always tattered, because no one cared about a slave's appearance.  Yes, he must certainly be a slave...there were only two pieces that didn't fit.

      One was the fact that he was moving the pieces of paper around with one of the humans--that wasn't right.  Slaves _never_ did things with their masters, and they would never be allowed to sit at the same table, or even in the same room unless they had a task to perform.  No slave could be as important as he seemed.

      The other problem was his hair.  Slaves' hair was always cut short; in fact, hacked off would be a better way to describe it.  No master wanted their slaves' hair to get caught in machinery or filthy with the dried blood it would certainly be covered in before long from beatings and whippings.  But this one's hair wasn't short at all--in fact, it was more bizarre than all the others put together.  How it was possible to have blond/black/red hair growing straight up in the air, attempting some semblance of order by falling into triangular peaks, she had no idea.  She did know that despite these discrepancies, she was certain he was some kind of slave.

*****

      If Yugi and his friends could have heard her thoughts about them, they probably would have laughed.  None of them were slaves or masters or underlings, and they weren't doing anything of dire importance.  Their school day was over, and they were playing a game of Duel Monsters.  Of course, just because she was wrong about them didn't mean they were ordinary; they were anything but.  Tea, Tristan, Joey, and Yugi are four of the very few people in this World who know about the Multiverse.

      There is another member of their group, although she cannot see him.  This is Yami.  Only Yugi and Tea know he is there at all, and only Yugi can hear him; their other friends do not have spirit-sight, and Yami usually doesn't speak aloud when Yugi's friends are around.  Yami is the only member of the group who knows that Yugi would win every game if he didn't sometimes lose on purpose; it is very difficult to outdo a Guardian in their area of special ability.  Of course, this Guardian didn't even _know_ all of his abilities.

"Okay, Yug, your turn."

"Hmm...I'll play...the Dark Magician."

Yugi picked the top card off his deck without looking at it and put down on the table, face-up.

It was the Dark Magician.

      Yugi paused for a moment, then realized that there was no way he could have known what card was on top of his deck without seeing it.

"Whoa--how did I do that?"

      Yugi's friends all looked from him to the card on the table uncomprehendingly.  They had seen people "psychically" predict their cards, but it had never been anything but a hoax before.  How could this be possible?

"Yugi...you can predict cards?"

"No--of course not!"  
"But that card..."

"Try doing it again--maybe it was just a coincidence."

      Yugi doubtfully put his hand on top of his deck, then paused.  "But I can't predict cards--it's impossible!"

_Yugi, you're trying too hard...calm down...after all, what difference does it make?  Just guess and you'll be wrong and that'll prove you can't predict cards._

"Yeah...you're right.  Okay, I'll give it a try..."

Yugi closed his eyes.

"Spellbinding Circle...then Koumori Dragon...then Mirror Force...then Dark Hole...then Silverfang."

      Yugi looked at the five cards on the table.  They were the cards he had guessed, in the order he had named them.  There was complete silence for a moment.

_See?  I _knew_ you were trying too hard._

"You knew I could do this the whole time!?"

_Well, I guessed.  When you knew which card it was, I figured you'd be able to guess the others._

"But...how did I do it?"

      Yugi's friends were wondering that too, but they were so shocked they didn't speak.  It was among the most bizarre things they had ever seen (at least in their opinion), and they had seen some pretty strange things since their adventures in the Multiverse began.

      As they were all wondering at Yugi's new ability, there was a bright light beneath the table they were sitting at, and a small, fanged, purple dragon with bright red eyes and leathery wings appeared.

"Koumori!  I told you not to Summon yourself in public!"

      The dragon growled and snarled unintelligibly (at least to those who didn't speak Draconic), but Yugi had another way to speak to his monsters.

_"Nobody's gonna see me..."_

"What if they _did_?  It would be a complete disaster, you have to stop doing that."

_"Well you wanted to know how you predicted your cards."_

"You know?"

_"No.  But I know someone who _does_.  Silverfang can tell you...he knows all that kind of stuff..."_

"Oh...well, thanks, I guess.  And stop appearing like that!"

_"Fine...I'll listen next time. Maybe."_

      The Koumori dragon Desummoned itself.  The extreme bizarreness of having a dragon, and a Duel Monster at that, appear and then disappear seemingly randomly finally returned the power of speech to Yugi's friends.

"Yugi, what just happened?"

"Where'd that dragon come from?"

"And...how come you were talking to it?"

      Yugi looked up, having completely forgotten that all of this would seem not just strange, but downright crazy to his friends.

"Oh, that was just the Koumori Dragon.  I _told_ him not to Summon himself where someone might see him, but he never listens...and I was talking to him because he started talking to me.  Lessee...Silverfang, I need to talk to you."

The silver wolf appeared, but this was at least less conspicuous than a dragon.  Scratching his ear, Silverfang settled down to explain his master's new ability.

_"So you want to know why you were able to predict your cards?"_

"Well...it would be nice...."

_"All right.__  You know which cards we are by are magical auras.  While the pieces of paper you use to Summon us are not magical in and of themselves, they are capable of channeling magic, and that magic is subtly different for different monster, magic, and trap cards.  You can tell which cards are which without looking at them because you can feel that magic.  You will only be able to intuit your own cards at first--the ones which are most loyal or best known to you.  With practice, you will be able to identify any card."_

"Oh...I think I kind of understand now...so it's like caller ID?"

_"I have no knowledge of this 'caller ID.'"_

"You know, on a telephone...you know who's calling you by their phone number.  I know which cards are which by the aura of the thing they Summon...right?"

_"That is correct."_

"Okay...thanks, Silverfang--you'd better Desummon now..."

The wolf exited as the dragon had before him, leaving Yugi's friends speechless once again.  Although they could Summon monsters themselves, having a monster as a friend still seemed strange to them.

_I think you scared your friends...._

"Why?  It's not like there's anything strange about Summoning, they can all do it too."

_Yeah, but...they don't really talk to their monsters on a regular basis._

"Oh.  Oops."

*****

She couldn't hear what they were saying from her perch, but she could see that the three humans thought the fourth member of their group as strange as she did.  Quickly sliding down the trunk of the tree, she began walking toward them.  She very much wanted to speak to this one who reminded her so much of the people she knew....


	4. Revealed

Author's note: sorry this update took so long!  From here on in, I'm using a different spelling of a character's name...Yuugi instead of Yugi (but I won't be changing all the other chapters—I don't have enough time).  This isn't a random spelling decision, my friend who translates Japanese stuff did a translation from the original kana (at least, I'm pretty sure it was kana), and Yugi is more like a dub name.  It isn't really _wrong_, but it takes out the phonetic lengthener (that's the extra u), and Yuugi actually means game I believe, so I feel it's more correct.  Names, as you may have noticed, are very, very important to this story, so I'm trying to get them right.  And yes, I realize that I'm using dub names for all non-original characters except Yuugi—there is a reason and it is currently a secret.  One more thing about the names *things fly out of nowhere and hit Subieko* No, really, just one more!  I realize that in the original Japanese version, Yami didn't have a real name—he was called dark Yuugi (Yami Yuugi) in the character guide, mou hitori no boku (my other self) by Yuugi, mou hitori no Yuugi (the other Yuugi) by Yuugi's friends, I believe, and I'm fairly certain he was called the Japanese for "nameless pharaoh" by some people, and maybe even some other things by other people.  Talk about an identity crisis...but, Yami was used in the dub as a _name_.  However, I did _not_ just use the dub name—at first, Yuugi and his friends referred to the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle as _the_ Yami, using Yami as a class of spirit.  However, later they call him Yami.  This is because in my version of events, he chooses that to be his name, and in living under a name it becomes one's own.  O___o okay I think I've babbled enough now...sorry, names are just really important!  ^__^;;;

Also: I may not update for a while...I'm a little stuck on C5 (and I'm back to school now...O___o).  But, I AM working on it!  ^___^

And now...thank you to Chace, Mitsuko-chan, and Serafinamoon for reviewing!  Thanks for the compliment, Chace.  ^__^  Mitsuko-chan, thank you too—I'm glad you think I did a good job.  Serafinamoon, thank you too!  Heh...mystery girl's identity is revealed in this chapter...she's not a Darkling, but good guess—you noticed that she comes from Dark World, yay!  ^____^  And also a big thanks to Kath, who helped me translate that name stuff.  Enjoy this chapter! 

Chapter 4--Revealed__

            She slid down from the tree, stealthily approaching the group.  She had to talk to them, had to find out who they were; they seemed different from the other people here, and that alone made them worthy of notice.  She crept closer, staying in the shadows.  She had risked death to come here, and she would speak to these people who seemed so unusual if it cost her her life.

*****

_Yuugi, look--it's that girl from the library._

"You're right...I wonder what she's doing here?"

_Ask her yourself...she's coming over here.  Scratch that--she'll never make it._

"Why not?"

_Because the idiots of your stupid school seem to think it would be amusing to smash her face in._

"Oh."

            Yuugi got up and started walking off.

"Wait--Yuugi, where are you going?"

"I have to go rescue someone...I'll be back in a minute."

_WHAT?  Hey--wait for me!_

****

            She was in trouble; she knew that at once.  People bigger and heavier than her, blocking her way--if that wasn't trouble, she didn't know what was.

"Hey, freak girl--why ya wearing a cape?"

"Yeah--something wrong with your face?"

She scowled at them, although they couldn't see that.

"Get away from me!"

"I don't think so..."

*****

_You know, we _could_ just play a game with them..._

"No.  You are _not_ making anyone else hallucinate or blinding them or whatever it is you do to people when you play those games."

_Well they _deserve_ it!  And it's not like it's permanently damaging...usually._

"Yami, _no_."

_Fine...but you do realize the odds are completely against you.  Two-on-one, and both of them are about twice your size._

"Two-on-two, actually."

_I can't help you fight--they would kind of notice that I'm a spirit and all..._

"Oh yeah...I forgot.  Well, we can beat them anyway.  Benjamin taught me how to fight, remember?"

_Benjamin is a Darkling, and unlike you, he actually aims to _win_ when he fights people._

"We'll be fine--now come on.."

            She looked up.  It was the boy she had seen in the strange building--the different one.  But...why would he be here?  It never occurred to her that someone would help her for no reason--in her life, charity was nonexistent.  She was consequently surprised by what happened next.

"Leave her alone."

"Why should we?"

"Because you shouldn't randomly attack people?"

_I don't think they're gonna buy that argument._

"Well it's _true_!"

_They just like attacking people, Yuugi._

"They shouldn't."

_Then let's stop them._

"Right!"

            The two would-be attackers stared at Yuugi while he talked, not just to himself, but apparently to another person.  Most of the people Yuugi knew thought he was crazy, so this was making them nervous.  After all, messing with a psycho is never a good idea.

"...let's get out of here..."

"Right with you."

_Well, I guess that's a solution..._

"Huh?"

_They thought you were crazy and ran for it._

"Oh.  Well, that's that."

            She stood up carefully, looking curiously at the stranger.  What possible reason could he have had for helping her?  It didn't make any sense to her, whose life held nothing but quick death for the weak--the strong held out a little bit longer.  Still, whatever his reasons were, he _had_ helped her, and he certainly must be like her.

"Come on--let's get out of here," she said, grabbing his hand.

            Yuugi stared at the cloaked stranger.  He had no idea what she was talking about, but he had a sinking feeling that this was yet another bizarre mystery person from another World.

"Uh...why?"

"Don't you want to get away from here?"

"Why would I want to do that?" Yuugi asked hesitantly.

            She couldn't understand it.  This one must surely be a slave because of his small size and filthy clothes--why wouldn't he want to escape?  She certainly had.

"What, you _like_ being a slave?"

            Yuugi's friends, having by now caught up to him, stared at her with him, all of them completely taken aback.

"I'm _what_?"

"You aren't a slave?"

"No, I'm not!"

"Then...what are you?"

"I'm...well, I'm human...."

"You _are_!?"

            Everyone was silent.  They were at loss to see how anyone could think Yuugi wasn't human.

_This is too bizarre--most people think you're weird, but she doesn't even think you're _human_!_

"Of course I'm human!"

"...oh.  Never mind, then."

            She turned to walk away.  If these people were no different from everyone else in this World, then they were no concern of hers.

"Wait--I want to know who you are."

            She half-turned, glancing back at the small child.  If anyone else had seen Yuugi now, they would have been surprised--he looked so much more authoritative than normal that only someone who knew he was a Guardian could have understood.  She knew about Guardians, but she hadn't known this World had one; if this was him, then she would have to explain herself.

"Are you...the Guardian?"

"How did you know?" Yuugi asked in surprise.

"I could just tell...I knew you were different from everyone else.  All right...I'll tell you my story.  I come from--"

"Wait--not here!"

_That's right...if she's not human or something, she'll stick out.  We can't break the Sacred Trust or anything._

"Come on...we can go to my house.  If grandpa was okay with dragons and wolves, you should be no problem."

_Of course, you haven't actually _told_ your grandfather that various Duel Monsters have taken up residence in his house...._

"Close enough."

            She walked off with them, unafraid.  Like many people who met Yuugi, she had a feeling that this Guardian was one she could trust.

*****

"Okay, now you can tell us about yourself."

            They were all standing (or sitting, as the mood took them) in Yuugi's kitchen, having conveniently decided to tell Yuugi's grandfather about the mysterious girl later.  She took a deep breath, preparing to tell her story.

"I guess to really get my story you have to know what I look like.  So...."

            She took off her veil, then removed the cape she had been wearing to hide her features.  They collectively gasped in shock at the person underneath.

            She was tiny, both in height and in build--as short as Yuugi and as thin as a rail.  Her clothes were gray rags that looked like burlap, crudely cut into a makeshift, sleeveless shirt and shorts that were too small in some places and too large in others.  The clothes barely stayed on her bony body, so worn and ragged they were almost falling apart.  The back of her shirt was almost see-through from whip cuts, and thick, raised whip scars stood out with her vertebrae underneath it.  Every bone in her body stuck out; she looked like one of the starving children on a charity brochure.  Her arms and legs were covered with scars from a life of hard labor, and her clothes were stained with what looked like long-dried blood.  On her right arm, a tattoo ran from her shoulder to her elbow: 24601.  All of this, however, was not the worst.

The worst was her face.

            Her sharp, darting brown eyes seemed huge in her thin face, and her skin seemed stretched tight from long starvation.  Her hair barely touched her ears, looking like it had been hacked off with a rusty sword; there were scars on her head in some places where the hair had been pulled out by force.  Lengthwise on the right side of her face was another tattoo, running from just below her temple to her jaw: 601.  They suddenly realized why she had worn a veil over her face--to cover that marking.  But where had she gotten it, and why?  Only Yuugi, who had been a prisoner in the Chaos Fortress and had known Benjamin best, realized what this must mean.

"Is that your slave number--24601?"

The girl scowled and whirled around, glaring at him.

"I am not a number!"

"No, wait--that's not what I meant..."

_Why is she so sensitive about that number?_

            Yuugi's friends were confused; they had never seen a Chaos slave before.  Little did they know that their friend Benjamin had the same heavy scars on his back; he never took his coat off if he could help it.  Dark World's Guardian had also been a slave, but to another master, one less concerned with order than with the suffering of his captives.

"What do you mean, a slave number?"

"How did you get all those scars?"

"...who are you?"

            This last question was the best, but the hardest to answer; the Overlord's slaves are among the most miserable, because he takes from them the last thing that could make them anything _but_ numbers in his horde of possessions: their names.  The slaves of Chaos were meant to be nameless entities, mere fractions of a whole, but they hate this idea with all their hearts.  The slaves, not knowing who they were before their capture, fashion themselves knew names as best they can, refusing to be the numbers of a cruel master.

"My name is Scat Freedom, and I am not a number."

            If not for the seriousness of the situation, they would have been tempted to laugh.  Scat?  What kind of a name was Scat?  But the girl (or Scat, as we must now call her) glared at them so fiercely that they couldn't make fun of her name.

Well, most of them couldn't.

"Scat?  Your name is _Scat_?  You're kiddin' me, right?  How can your name be _Scat_?"

"Joey!  You should never make fun of someone's name!" Yuugi said in shock.

            Scat herself seemed to think this too.

"You're makin' fun of my name!?  I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

            She leaped forward, but Tristan grabbed her arms to prevent her from dealing his friend a fatal injury.

"I don't suppose an apology would help..."

"Calm down--er--Scat.  He didn't mean it--we were just surprised."

"I'm not ashamed of my name--it's the only one I got1  That's what the others call me...Scat 'cause I'm so fast, and Freedom 'cause I tried to break out so many times.  'Course, I think it's actually kind've an insult--they never thought I'd make it.  But this time I did...this time I got out.  I took the Gater...I put it the first set of coord'nints I saw...and now I'm here, and you're insultin' my name!  I COULD DIE FOR THAT NAME!  DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?  WE AREN'T EVEN _ALLOWED_ TO HAVE NAMES, AND YOU'RE MAKIN' FUN OF MINE!?"

"Hey, I'm _sorry_ already, quit freakin' out!"

            The girl stood still, finally released, still shaking slightly with fury.  How could they understand?  Their names had always belonged to them, they had never been stolen and destroyed forever, how could they understand what it felt like to be just a number?  Idiots...just like all the Chaos troops, taking names and never thinking what that really meant.  That's all they were...just like them....

"We're sorry, Scat--my friends have never lost their names before..."

"Oh, an' you have?"

Yuugi was silent for a moment.  "...almost."

            Scat did a double take.  He had almost lost his name?  That was something, then.  This one _was_ special...she had been right.

"All right, then.  Anyway...you wanted to know who I am, now who're all of you?"

            Yuugi's friends weren't quite sure how to introduce themselves to a girl from another World, but they did their best.

"Uh...my name's Tea, and it's nice to meet you and all...."

"I'm Tristan...and...yeah."

"I'm Joey..."

            Scat looked at them coldly.  She couldn't understand how a pack of idiots like them had survived this long, even in their own World.  She turned to Yuugi, hoping for a slightly better introduction, if not expecting one.

"My name is Yuugi Mutou," he said, bowing.  "I am honored to meet you, Scat Freedom...welcome to our World."

            Scat really couldn't help but be impressed by that.  No one had ever introduced themselves to her in her life, but she had seen plenty of introductions, and that was certainly one of the best.  Of course, one would expect that from a Guardian, but still--compared to everyone else here, it was _really_ amazing.

_It looks like mystery girl is finally impressed._

"She's not a mystery girl anymore, her name is Scat..."

            Talking to an invisible person completely ruined the effect of the introduction, but Scat was still gratified to hear someone use her name without laughing.  Turning back to her, Yuugi smiled, looking much more harmless and ordinary.

"Since you're kind of a refugee now, you can stay with us if you want."

            Having been a slave for as long as she could remember, no one had ever offered Scat so much as a kind word before.

"....thanks."

            Yuugi's friends, having gotten past most of Scat's bizarreness, rejoined the conversation at this point.

"Yeah--helping refugees is a good thing, right?"

"Course it is!  Nobody should have to be a slave!"

Tea nodded.  "That's right.  But, you're going to need something else to wear if you want to blend in, Scat.  Hmm...I'd lend you some of my clothes, but they'd all be too big for you...."

            They all looked at Yuugi.

"Okay, okay, I'll lend her some of my clothes...sheesh."

*****

            Several minutes later, Scat, looking slightly more normal, trouped into the store with all her new friends.

"Grandpa, this is Scat Freedom and she's an escaped slave, so she's going to stay with us, okay?"

            Yuugi's grandfather, looking at the nearly bald, tattooed girl wearing borrowed clothes that were still loose on her skeletal frame, was at a loss for words.  Yuugi smiled brightly.

"Great!  I knew you'd agree."

            They walked out again, leaving a very surprised and confused old man in their wake.


	5. Perspectives

Author's note: everyone who reviewed (and had the patience to wait for this chapter...), thank you so much! Serafinamoon, glad you liked the chapter. I'm glad you like Scat's name...unlike some people...;;; And thank you for being okay with the long delay! Mitsuko-chan, thank you too. Heh, our heroes are about to get themselves into a LOT of trouble...as usual! And I did check out your new fic, as well as yours, Serafinamoon.

Updates may be slow for a while—this is finals week for me (in fact, this is right before my history final...--'''). I DO know where this story is going, and I'm not giving up on it, so if updates take a while...I DO have reasons. ;;; Also, this chapter has a lot of POV switches, but none are labeled...part of the point is for them to be clear enough that you can figure them out. One last thing: if any characters seem out-of-character...they aren't. They've DEVELOPED from their previous adventures. Hope you like this chapter, everyone!

… I don't like this. No no no. No more asterisks? So, I'm using new transitions. ----- is the POV changes….alas for the asterisks….hope you like this chapter, now that it's done CORRECTLY….

Chapter 5--Perspectives

It's not that I don't trust them. Well, okay, it is, but I have my reasons. There's only one thing I know for sure, and that's this: nobody helps _nobody_ without a good reason, and that means there's something they want from you. So why should they help me? I don't like any of them, not that girl, not that kid with the long coat, not that one with all the hair. The other one....

I'm not too sure about the Guardian. There's something really different about him, and it's not just that he's a Guardian or that he looks so different from them. There's something else, behind his eyes. Slaves don't look into people's eyes too much, but it's okay with the others--the other slaves--and if you look into a slave's eyes it's scary, or at least it would be if I wasn't one myself. Some people's eyes, they got death in 'em, and some people, they're bitter and full of hate. Those other ones' eyes are just boring, nothing I would care about. But the Guardian....

I've never seen eyes like his. In one way, they're just so _innocent_. It's like he would trust anyone, like he's never seen death. But I looked again, and I _know_ he's seen death. You can tell from someone's eyes right off; some people get cold and dead inside, and some people just can't stop hurting. The Guardian, I know it must have hurt him, but at the same time...no hate. That's just not normal, once you see someone die you should have hate inside, but he doesn't. It's strange...I've never met anyone who had so much pain inside and could still smile. It's like he doesn't even know he's hurt. I don't know what's up with _that_, but I know one thing--everyone you meet, they'll hurt you someday. So I won't trust to deep, or too much. I don't want to get hurt if I can help it. I'm not telling nothing to those others, that's for sure. And the Guardian, well, he's different I guess. Maybe I'd tell him something, I don't know. I'll help him out at least, if I can. He helped me without even knowing who I was, after all. I don't get how he can trust anyone like that, but whatever. Maybe it's something I wouldn't understand.

------------

Yuugi and Scat swept the front walk in silence. The former slave had offered to help Yuugi with his chores, and even though he told her it wasn't necessary, she insisted. Scat was much more efficient than Yuugi, mostly from long experience. Yuugi frowned, lost in thought; he was wondering what a Chaos Base in Dark World might mean for his friend Benjamin's home. He would have liked to ask Yami his opinion, but the spirit was apparently lost in thought himself, within his soul room; Yami had been doing that a lot lately. Yuugi wondered whether he had said or done something to offend his Guardian partner, then wondered whether he was being paranoid. He shook his head in a futile attempt to clear it, starting as he realized that he was repeatedly sweeping the same spot, and accomplishing nothing.

Scat gasped, looking at the sky. The sun was gradually sinking below the horizon, painting the sky with streaks of blood-red and fiery orange-yellow. Blue-violet tones were beginning to trickle in as well with the onset of nightfall. Having lived in Dark World for as long as she could remember, Scat had never seen a sunset like this before. In Dark World, the dying sun was always hazy and shadowed; the Darklings referred to it as being veiled. Scat had been in awe of the blazing yellow light before, but this was even more impressive.

"Scat? What is it?" Yuugi asked, turning to the former slave. Seeing the direction of her gaze, Yuugi thought he should have guessed--Benjamin had had the same fascination with the stars of this World, even staying up late into the night to watch them, and rising early in the morning to watch the sunrise.

"Your sky...it's..."

Yuugi smiled. "I know...we're very lucky."

There was a pause while both children watched the sky as it darkened and stars began to pierce the black mantle. Finally, Scat turned to the Guardian beside her. She was about to suggest that she get going, more because she had no concept of hospitality than out of politeness, but Yuugi beat her to it.

"Oh--I forgot, you can stay with us if you want!"

Scat stared at the Guardian. She stared some more. This could have gone on all night, but luckily Yuugi interrupted her.

"I mean...if that's...okay..." he added uncertainly, misinterpreting Scat's complete speechlessness.

"You're...letting me stay here?" Scat asked disbelievingly.

"Of course," Yuugi replied. "You are a guest, both of me personally and of my World."

Scat was impressed. She had never met a Guardian before, but she was sure that even if she had, there were very few as polite and genuinely friendly as this one. She felt that she should be expressing gratitude of some sort, but didn't quite know how; Scat had never heard someone say "thank you" before.

"Then....yeah, I guess."

The former slave followed Yuugi inside, still trying to comprehend what had just happened.

------------

There was a time when if I met someone, I would have asked them who they were. I would have asked ordinary things like their name, where they lived, what they did. Perfectly normal, ordinary questions that used to work just fine.

These days, I've stopping wanting to know who people are.

For one thing, "who" doesn't say much about some of the people I've met lately. For another, I don't want to hear any more about the "Multiverse" and the "Overlord" and all these other things that came into my life without _my_ knowledge or consent.

I didn't ask my son to form an army; actually, I didn't even know.

He came home with a whole lot of strange people one day, all of them dressed like vagabonds and looking over their shoulders like they were afraid someone might attack at any moment. I asked him who they were, but he only told me they were friends; his wife just said they were in need of help. I didn't ask any further--they all looked fairly shifty. Some of them even had _weapons_! So I stayed out of their way, and they stayed out of mine, for them most part.

But things didn't stay like that--life got stranger and stranger. Sometimes one of them would come in with blood all over them, talking in some strange language; sometimes they'd wander around the house marking things with chalk. I always assumed that at least a few of them had some kind of mental disorder, judging from the way they acted. But I never thought that they were doing something _dangerous_...at least, until my son disappeared. Those strange people left to find him, and as far as I know only one returned. I know the night _he_ came back because that was the same night that Yuugi came into my life. He was only a few years old; I doubt he remembers any of it.

[flashback]

A faint knock sounded through the downpour outside. Solomon got up, hurrying to the door. For days now, he had been waiting for news of his missing son; every knock raised his hopes, and every disappointment brought them crashing down again. Hands shaking slightly, he opened the door.

Luminous green eyes set in a pale face met his bright purple ones. A slender, black-cloaked man was standing on his doorstep, face ravaged with sorrow. His skin and clothes were torn and bloodstained, and his breath shook slightly, as if he was holding back a sob. Solomon recognized him, although he didn't know him by name, and this man--really just a boy, he thought--had never looked younger, or more miserable. It was as if he had lost all hope, all meaning in his life, in just one moment. In his arms, he carried a sleeping child. Wordlessly, he handed Yuugi to his grandfather, then took out a small, square object. Solomon realized, with some surprise, that it was his son's Duel Monsters deck.

"H-he wanted you...to have them..." the man whispered, his voice nearly breaking, as he gave the deck to Solomon. He turned and walked away, leaving only tearstains on the doorstep as evidence of his presence; even these were soon washed away by the rain. At that moment, without knowing how or why, Solomon was completely certain that his son was dead. Turning, he walked back into the house, deciding to forget that this meeting had ever happened.

[end flashback]

I still don't know what happened to my son, or why--all I know is that those strange people had something to do with it. And now Yuugi's become involved in all this as well...that boy named Benjamin, these strange disappearances, and even the man who spoke to me that night--he said his name is Vice. This girl says she's from Dark World, and she has some of the same odd habits Benjamin did--refusing to eat fish because it "belongs to the sea," staring at the sky, sleeping too little. I don't understand any of it, and I don't want to.

After all, my son died because he understood these things.

And now Yuugi is caught up in something that I'm sure he called a war, with strange people, some of whom said they weren't human, and I know that this is dangerous. I know that things are getting worse, and I don't want to know about it any more because I'm afraid that someday, Yuugi's going to die just like his father did....

Alone.

------------

No one even blinked when Yuugi woke up late, fell all the way down the stairs with much thumping and "ouch!"-ing, and finally zoomed out the door, shouting back, "I'm late I have to go take care of Scat bye!" to his grandfather; this was perfectly normal for the Mutou family. Yuugi's grandfather just shook his head, still not entirely used to this, but growing more so every day. Compared to saving the world, being on time for school just didn't get top priority. Even while rushing, however, Yuugi didn't forget to take the Millennium Puzzle with him; by now it was force of habit.

_ Maybe you should try waking up earlier..._

"Well, I (pant, pant) _would_ have, but (pant, pant) I don't have an alarm clock anymore because (pant, pant) someone tried to _eat_ it..." Yuugi muttered under his breath, skidding to a stop in his own classroom just seconds ahead of the bell. Here as well, no one was surprised--most people thought Yuugi was practically a truant as it was, although it wasn't really his fault that he was always late; living with extremely annoying monsters can be an impediment to almost anything.

"Hi guys!" Yuugi said once he had caught his breath. All of his friends were there, with much more time to spare than him. Tea, Tristan, Joey, and Yuugi all went to their seats as their teacher walked in; across the classroom, Seto Kaiba did as well. Although none of his friends thought of the young CEO as a member of their group, Yuugi still said hello to him every morning, and got the same reply: "Go away." Unfortunately for Kaiba, this didn't bother Yuugi at all. All of the students settled down to start their school day, just as usual. Even heroes had to learn some time, much to Joey's chagrin.

------------

I don' know why Yuug bothers sayin' hello ta dat guy every day. I know _I_ sure wouldn', not if ya paid me. Stupid Kaiba, thinks he's so great....I could beat him in a duel if I really wanted to. He's got nothin' on any of _us_, dat's for sure. Doesn' even have any friends.

I gotta admit, though, he IS pretty smart. I mean, I rememba when we got stuck in dat big Chaos fortress da first time--we neva could've gotten outta dere without him. Man, I thought we were goners when we first entered dat place...it was spooky as anything. All dark, and weid lights flickerin' around, and shadows too...and as crazy as it sounds, it _felt_ like dat place didn't wan' us dere. We had ta go, though--Yuug was in trouble, and none of us'd eva leave a friend in trouble. Why Kaiba came along...I guess dere wasn' anything else he _could_ do. I mean, we were all pretty freaked out, an' none of us knew how ta get home.

It all started with Duelist Kingdom, I guess--dat's where we met Benjamin. At first we all thought he was just a crazy duelist wanderin' around, but he was tryin' ta rescue someone too--Bikaymon. We didn' know it den, but Benjamin and Bikaymon weren' just out a de ordinary--dey weren' even _human_! An' dere was more--dey were from another World. Well, we didn' find dat out right away. It was a little while after all a' dat--we just got pulled right outa _our_ World, an' inta Benjamin's. We met Vice dere, an' we helped them fight dis real bad guy who called himself da Shadow Masta. Actually, I don't know much about that...we all got split up, an' only Yuug was actually in the battle. He neva told us about it...I guess he doesn' want ta. Thing is, afta dat, Vice asked us to stop dis guy, who was lookin' for somethin'--da Chaos Seal, he said. I don' know what anybody'd want with a seal, but I guess dat's just me. We took his Gater thing, an' we tried ta go, but instead...we got sucked inta dis big fortress place. Actually, we didn' know dat at first--we got knocked out an' locked up, all tagether. I guess dey didn't know too much about us yet, or they neva woulda messed with Joey Wheeler, dat's for sure. Yeah, dat's right. I coulda beaten dem...if I really wanted to. Yuug got dragged off somewhere else, though--he neva said what happened. We all got out, usin' our monstas dat we'd just learned how ta Summon--man was dat cool. Only problem was, dey--meanin' all a dese weid people and shadow-things--cornered us in dis big room, with a lotta doors goin' off of it. Staircases too, it looked real formal. We was all fightin' our hardest, but we just had ta run in the end. We didn' want to, but dey went for reinforcements, and what with us thinkin' Kaiba was dead...we figured we'd betta get out while we could.

I found out later, we all went ta different places, and met lots of weid people. Me, I went ta dis place called "Yoo-rak" or somethin'. Lotsa people with swords and magic spells and things--I used Flame Swordsman and Copycat ta get me outa dat mess. Finally I remembered dat Gater thing, an' had Copycat change inta dat. I didn' know exactly where dat base thing was, so I went back ta where Vice was--in Dark World. All da rest of us did, too. We went back ta the base to rescue Yuug, but...things didn't go so well.

We got in all right--Vice said dey was lettin' us get in so dey could trap us, but dat was part of da plan, we would beat dem in some place that we could defend from. Thing was, dey were ready for dat. Some _thing_ calling himself da Chaos Oracle had possessed our pal Yuugi, an' we couldn't attack him, because if we did, we'd end up hurtin' Yuug. Tea said somethin' about, "It's him, he betrayed us," but I'm not too sure what she was talkin' about--I was too busy trying not ta get hit. Vice got knocked out when he blocked this big magic blast, and den Riel--dat's his sister--said we'd betta run for it. We did, but dat didn't work too well either. Dey came afta us, an' it turned out dat some a dem could go through walls. Dey grabbed Kaiba first an' dragged _him_ off through a wall--dat was freaky! Den Riel said, don't let dem get your decks, so when they came afta me, I threw mine ta her. I didn' want dem gettin' my cards, dat was for sure. I kept one, though--the Copycat. I knew I could use dat card to get away, an' I knew dey'd think they had all my cards. Way smarter den Kaiba, right?

Oh, yeah--I did need his help to get out in de end. It was mostly my plan though. Mostly.

[flashback]

Joey looked carefully around the small cell. They had been smart this time, whoever _they_ were anyway--he and Kaiba had been locked in different rooms. In fact, Joey had no idea where he was. He sighed, his head between his knees. He had to think of a plan...he just had to!

"Dat's it!" he shouted, suddenly jumping up. He quieted at once, looking around again to make sure no one was watching, then pulled out a small, thin piece of paper.

"Copycat, come on out!" he whispered, squinting in concentration. Finally, a bright light shone from the card, and the Copycat popped out. Joey managed a grin, collapsing to his knees as he gasped for breath. Summoning was a lot harder than it had sounded when Vice told them how to do it...

The Copycat made an inquisitive noise, looking at its master. Joey waved a hand to reassure it, then sat up.

"Okay, Copycat, here's da plan...."

-----

Down one level, Seto Kaiba was sitting in a similar cell, also with his head between his knees. He was exhausted, having first fought a battle and then run from mysterious, shadowy-looking creatures. He scowled, remembering; how could he have let himself get caught like that, and even worse, let them take his deck!? Logically, he knew that there was nothing he could have done, but it made him feel better to be angry. Being angry was something he was used to, something he was good at; being trapped was not. Getting up, he started pacing, mentally berating himself for wasting energy at the same time. He had a strange feeling that something was wrong--beyond the obvious, that was--but he couldn't quite place it. Shaking his head, he tried to concentrate. A sudden noise at the opaque cell door, however, startled him out of his circular thoughts. Looking up, he watched in amazement as, with a strange giggle from the other side, the door swung open. In the doorway stood none other than the mutt, Joey Wheeler, with the Copycat quietly laughing its head off beside him, very pleased with itself for having picked the lock on the door.

"Well? You comin' or not, Kaiba?"

Furious at being rescued by such an inferior duelist (and in his own mind, inferior person), Kaiba stalked out, following Joey. _Well_, he thought,_ at least I'm out of that room_.

[end flashback]

Yep--_I_ rescued _Kaiba_. He didn't even say thank-you...stupid jerk. He didn't deserve my help...I did feel bad for him when we ran inta Vice, though. He wouldn' say exactly how he got away--just that "a bond they could not break has saved me," which I didn't get. The thing is, he told Kaiba dat the Chaos people snatched Mokuba, his little brother. Well, I know how I'd feel if anything happened ta my little sister, Serenity...so I went along to find him. Kaiba got this thing carved into his hand so we could trace Mokuba or something--it was scary, all that blood, he looked like he was gonna faint. But he agreed to it to find Mokuba, so I guess he's not _all_ bad...just mostly. Anyway, we met up with Riel, Tea, and Tristan so we could find Yuug and get outa dere. Dere was some kinda plan, but we didn' know what it was exactly--Vice said, "someone they don't expect will help us," but I don' know why. I don' _think_ anybody else came ta help...but what do I know? So many weid things happened, maybe I missed dat one. It was real spooky...but we got home--Vice gave Yuug one a dem Gater things.

It's not dat I mind helpin' people out or dat I blame Yuug for gettin' us sent to another World--I know he didn't plan dat. I just wish I coulda been dere for Serenity's operation. She was goin' blind, so I went to Duelist Kingdom with Yuug, an' he helped teach me how ta duel so I could win the prize money from the tournament for the operation so she could see again. Actually, Yuug ended up beatin' me in our duel...but he gave me the money, he said he just wanted to save all the souls Pegasus stole. Dat guy was as crooked as dey come...but Yuug beat him in the end too. He almost neva loses, actually...it's pretty weid, because he's about the most _not_ violent person I've evah met--except when one of us is actually in danger, or when he's dueling. Den...he just seems different. Actually, that hasn't been happening so much lately...I'm not too sure why. We just got back home from findin' dis key, so right now, I'm okay with just takin' a break. I have a feelin' we'll be fightin again pretty soon, and dis time, I'm gonna be ready. Those Chaos jerks won't get away with hurting my friends, and not anybody else's, either--not while Joey Wheeler's around.

------------

It's weird how nobody really notices that Yuugi's almost late every day. Of course, nobody used to notice him getting beat up either, or getting that Millennium Puzzle, or disappearing to another World....

I can't say that I'm any more observant--it's just that all this stuff's been happening to me too. I guess I notice things sometimes--definitely more than my pal Joey--but who would ever guess that there are other Worlds? I sure wouldn't have; in fact, I could hardly believe it at first. Not that there was much choice...we were all sort of dragged into it. Ever since we met Benjamin, our lives have been pretty crazy.

Actually, that's not quite right--it wasn't ever since we met Benjamin. Even before that, things had been kinda weird...wait, I remember. Ever since Yuugi got that Puzzle..._that's_ when strange things started happening. The funny thing is, no one ever really notices; I guess it's just human nature to look for some other reason that weird things are happening than something unbelievable. Who could've guessed so many people would want that thing? Pegasus sure did--he arranged a whole tournament just to face Yuugi, that evil creep. Yuugi beat him in the end, though...he beats just about everybody.

Now that we've found out about the Multiverse, things have gotten even crazier. Yuugi, Joey, Tea, and Kaiba all learned how to use magic to Summon the monsters on their Duel Monsters cards, and we fought all these weird people. I'm the only one who can't really Summon--I guess I could if I absolutely had to, but even Vice said I don't have as much magic as the others. Well, what he said was, "your strengths reflect a different kind of fire," but I think that's what he meant. Even when we got caught in that Chaos fortress, I couldn't do a thing...

We were trying to find the Chaos Seal or something, but instead, we ended up in this big fortress, and we all got dragged off into a prison cell! Well, except for Yuugi; he got taken somewhere else. I think whatever happened to him must have been pretty bad...he never talks about it. In fact, if one of us mentions it, he goes completely silent. Not that he's much of a talker the rest of the time...he always helps us if we need something, and he cheers us on if one of us is trying to do something, but I don't think he's asked _us_ for help in a long time...maybe he feels like he owes us one, after we came with him at Duelist Kingdom. I hope not--that's not how it is at all. I mean, we're all friends here, right?

So it isn't that I don't want to help the gang save the Multiverse--it's just that I can't, really. I can't Summon as well as Yuugi can, or even as well as Joey can...I don't have magic like the others all do...I can't fight like Vice or Benjamin can...I'm not as smart as Kaiba...I can't even support everyone nearly as well as Tea or Yuugi can. There isn't really any skill I have that someone doesn't already have, but even more so. I want to help...I really do. I just wish I knew _how_.

------------

It's hard to concentrate in class, sometimes. I mean, when you think about the whole Multiverse being in danger and all, physics and history just don't seem so important. I end up thinking about other things, and missing the whole lesson.

That's okay, though--I know one of my friends will lend me notes if I need them. Well, not Joey--he's not exactly the world's best note taker. Tristan's notes are always nearly perfect, even if he asks me or Yuugi to explain them sometimes. And Yuugi's notes? Well...I hate asking him for notes. He's a really close friend, but first of all, his notes are a mess. There are always scribbles and weird symbols in the margins from where he says he's practicing Darkling (whatever _that_ is), and sometimes there are random sentences that don't seem to fit together in the middle of a bunch of notes. I think that's so he can talk to that _spirit_ without saying anything out loud. Personally, I don't see why he bothers--if it was up to me, I'd say Yami deserves to be left all by himself. Why should Yuugi talk to him, after what he did to us?

Joey and Tristan--and Kaiba too, not that I usually think of him with the rest of my friends--don't know about Yami, but I do. When Yuugi put together the Millennium Puzzle, he started losing his memory sometimes, and strange things would happen...later, he found out that he was getting possessed by this ancient spirit. Yuugi calls him Yami--I'm not sure if that's his name or just a title, since it means "darkness" in Japanese. Neither of us speaks that, but his grandpa does, so maybe that's where he got it from.

I didn't know about Yami until Duelist Kingdom. I'd been thinking for a while that something strange was going on with Yuugi, because if there was ever trouble, he seemed...different. More confident, more self-assured, more...dangerous. All things that Yuugi definitely isn't--he's one of the most unassuming people I've ever met. During Duelist Kingdom, though, a boy named Bakura from our class challenged Yuugi to a friendly duel, and me, Tristan, and Joey all gave Yuugi our favorite cards for the match. The only problem was, it wasn't really Bakura--it was the evil spirit that lives inside his Millennium Ring, just like Yami lives inside the Millennium Puzzle. The evil spirit (from the Ring, that is) was going to steal the Millennium Puzzle. Now I almost wish he had, but Yami took over Yuugi's body and dueled him in this creepy place called the Shadow Realm. The reason I know is that when he played our favorite cards--Cyber Commander, Flame Swordsman, and Magician of Faith--_we_ appeared, dressed like the cards and with their powers! Finally, Yami had to play the Dark Magician--Yuugi's favorite card. When he did, Yuugi appeared on the field...but Yami didn't. Joey and Tristan still think it was just a dream, but that was when we met Yami for the first time. Of course, back then I didn't know what he's _really_ like...

Yami didn't seem like a bad person (or whatever he is) when I first found out about him. In fact, as much as I hate to admit it, I even had sort of a crush on him. He saved my life once, and he seemed like...a hero. He helped us when we were in trouble...he was so honorable...and he always, _always_, protected us. I never thought he would hurt any of us, and especially not Yuugi. But...he did.

It was when we got sucked into another World for the first time--Benjamin was in big trouble, and he's our friend even though back then we didn't know him very well, so we helped him. We also met this guy named Vice...I still don't know what to make of him. He's the kind of person that can make you feel really safe and really uncomfortable at the same time, if that makes any sense. Anyway, we ended up trying to find this thing called the Chaos Seal, although I'm still not sure what it is exactly. We never found it--instead, we ended up in this big Chaos fortress. Me, Joey, Tristan, and Kaiba were all locked up together (and it was no picnic), but Yuugi got dragged off somewhere else--along with his Millennium Puzzle, meaning Yami. The rest of us escaped, and we fought the weirdest creatures...we ran for it after it looked like Kaiba got killed. I mean, we were sure he was dead, we checked for a pulse and everything! I almost had a heart attack when later we all met up back in Dark World and he was perfectly fine. Typical Kaiba: he goes, "What are you geeks looking at?" when we're all freaking out because he's alive.

We went back to the fortress to rescue Yuugi, but...that didn't go so well. Vice got knocked out and captured, and when the rest of us were running for it with Vice's sister Riel, Kaiba and Joey were both captured too. They don't know it, but there was a reason: Yami. He was _with_ those Chaos freaks that attacked us, and the one that took over Yuugi's body--the Chaos Oracle. He must have betrayed us--he didn't even try to stop them, he just _watched_. It was even worse than seeing Yuugi possessed, in a way, because I knew that if we all worked together we could save Yuugi...knowing that Yami _chose_ to side with those evil creeps was so much harder to take. And it got worse.

Later, when me, Tristan, and Riel regrouped and went back to find the others, we all ended up meeting in this sort of big hall inside the fortress. Yami was with the Chaos people--and he _stabbed_ Yuugi. It's true that Yuugi was possessed at the time, but that doesn't make it _right_! He could have killed Yuugi! We were all fighting at that point, so I didn't really see what happened after that, but we made it out. Actually, Yami sort of disappeared somehow, Yuugi was really upset about it...Vice went to find him though, and unfortunately he did. I say we don't have any proof that Yami is really on our side--for all we know, he's still with the Overlord. So I don't trust that _spirit_ one bit, and I wish Yuugi wouldn't either. I can't _believe_ I ever thought he was a hero...

Even though this whole war thing is pretty scary, and we've had some close calls, I don't mind helping Yuugi and the gang fight. They're my friends, and friends _never_ give up on each other. I just wish it wasn't so dangerous...I don't even want to think about what I'd do if one of us got hurt or...anything else. Even Kaiba--it was so scary when that Clanner lady stabbed him, what if he had _died_? When this whole thing started, it didn't seem nearly so difficult...but I won't give up. I'll never give up on my friends, and I know they won't give up on me either.

------------

This is such a stupid class. As far I can see, there's no point in learning all this history, it isn't even true. We _know_ that there was magic in ancient times, so where is it in the history books? Nowhere. Not one mention.

I'm being quiet though, because I know Yuugi has to concentrate and it's the _law_ and we can't just tell them that their history is wrong, any more than we can tell them that the laws of physics are wrong. It's not that I'm saying they're _entirely_ wrong, but they managed to leave out some details...say, magic and the Shadow Realm? Yeah, somehow I could've guessed.

I guess school is even more boring for me than for Yuugi or his stupid friends, because of course I'm technically not here. I'm off in my soul room inside the Millennium Puzzle, and I don't have to pay attention. Goody, even _more_ time to wander around in this labyrinth looking behind doors I've opened a hundred times and still not get any answers.

I don't want to complain--after all, I'm lucky to even be here. If Yuugi hadn't put together the Millennium Puzzle, I'd never do anything at all. But...I still sort of wish I didn't have to sit here all the time. I don't even know what I'm doing here, what's the point?

Yuugi's stupid friends are in these classes too. I don't like any of them, and it's not my fault--they hated me first. Well, Tea did. I don't think Joey and Tristan even know I exist, and of course the sky might fall before Kaiba admits that Yuugi's Puzzle has magic powers and a spirit inside it. How can he believe in Summoning, but not in the magic of the Millennium Items? Talk about stubborn...and that girl Tea seems to think I'm the evil incarnate. Either she wants me to know that, or she doesn't realize that I hear most of what people say to Yuugi. Yeah, well. What do I care what they think about me? Yuugi doesn't believe her anyway.

That's another thing, though--why doesn't he? As far as I know, I've never done anything that makes me seem particularly trustworthy or virtuous. I'd call it blind faith, but you never know. It's not like I have a really great memory. Still, that's a long shot...I don't know what would make anyone have faith in me.

I used to think that I actually did something pretty useful--I protected Yuugi from everything and everyone that tried to hurt him or his friends. I wasn't a psychotic murderer--it was _justice_! Yeah, that's exactly why I never told Yuugi what I did to any of those people. Of course it wasn't anything bad...and the effects weren't permanent...usually. Okay, so I did hurt a lot of people, but they deserved it. They hurt Yuugi, it was their own fault. I was a good protector...wasn't I? Yuugi said I was...he could just be saying that, though--I swear, he's too nice for his own good. I was there when he was begging Matt not to hurt those Clanners, one of whom had just tried to kill him. I would've stopped them myself, but...

It's funny how the Millennium Puzzle works. Back when I first met Yuugi, I could only do things by taking over his body, like a demon, and he never remembered it afterward. That's why he didn't know about me. Then after a while, Yuugi started remembering things...then when those Chaos people captured us, I actually learned how to manifest myself separately from Yuugi, and not just in a spirit form--I learned how to manipulate objects and stuff too. But I'd rather not remember what happened....what I did....

The reason I didn't protect Yuugi that day with the Clanners is because it's a lot harder for me to just take over his body now--I think he subconsciously learned to block me so I can't hurt anyone. Poor Yuugi the pacifist got stuck with me for a protector...but we make a good team, right? I mean, when we duel, nobody can beat us.

Oh, yeah--except the "us" part doesn't really apply anymore. Yuugi's actually a perfectly good duelist on his own, he's just under confident...but in this war--in other Worlds--they don't duel. They use magic, and I can't Summon at all. In fact, I can't do anything particularly effective. So I just kind of...exist. Inside the Millennium Puzzle, and occasionally Yuugi's mind. Yuugi's done so much for me, I wish there was some way I could help him too...but I can't, really. At this point, I don't even know who I am.

I don't remember anything about my past--where I came from in the first place, how I got trapped inside the Millennium Puzzle, or even where the Millennium Puzzle itself came from. I don't even know my name, or at least I don't know my original name--I have a new one now. For a long time, Yuugi called me a yami--his yami, specifically--because his grandfather's a real traditionalist, so he speaks Japanese, and yami means darkness. Since I use dark magic, and I guess you could say I'm a bit of a dark character, Yuugi called me a yami--his yami--the darkness inside of him. I am, in a sense--I'm certainly darker than him, and I am inside his mind in some ways. After a while, I decided I liked that name...so I just took it. Yami is my real name now, Vice even said so. My Truename...

So Yuugi's given me a lot of things--a life by putting together the Millennium Puzzle, a reason to exist by letting me protect him and help him, almost friends because until Tea found out that I exist they thought of me as a friend too, and even a name...and I really haven't done anything for him but cause trouble. Sure, I helped him beat Pegasus, but he wouldn't have been facing Pegasus in the first place if he hadn't found the Millennium Puzzle, and me. He wouldn't have gotten stuck in this war if he hadn't gone to Duelist Kingdom, so in a sense that's my fault too. I've gotten Yuugi into much more trouble than I've gotten him out of. When we fought in Dark World to help Benjamin, I couldn't do anything...Yuugi nearly died more than once, and what did I do? Nothing. It isn't that I didn't want to...there was just nothing I could do.

So if I'm not really any good at protecting Yuugi, what am I here for? Why am I bound to the Millennium Puzzle? Well, if I knew the answer I wouldn't be asking. I told Ko I didn't care who I used to be...but I do. I wish I knew about my past, and where I came from, and how I got here. I've looked through my mind so many times, but even Shadi couldn't find anything useful in here--apparently, my mind has a paranoid streak, because it tried to kill him nearly every two minutes. It's no danger to me, of course, but I haven't had any more success. It's good that my mind is so well protected, but it isn't supposed to keep _me_ out too!

It's not that I don't appreciate what I have--I wouldn't trade my connection with Yuugi for anything. But why do I have it in the first place? Who am I? I can't help wishing I knew. Yeah, well, what can you do, right?

I didn't always talk like that--Yuugi says that since I've learned to manifest myself and all, I've started talking like Joey and Tristan, a.k.a like a gangster...I suppose I picked it up from listening to them all the time, so it isn't my fault. But still...it's one more sign that I'm changing--moving away from whoever I used to be. Is that a good thing? I'm not sure. What if I never find out who I am? What if...what if I was someone _bad_ before? There are endless potential disasters with me and my past, and the worst part is that there's nothing I can do.

More than anything else, I hate being helpless. I don't care what happens to me, but I never, ever want to be in a position where someone else is in trouble and there's nothing I can do. I never want that to happen again...because I know that a lot of the time, I'm not very helpful. And I want to have _some_ kind of purpose to my life...I don't want to just cause trouble. I swore I'd protect Yuugi, and that's what I try to do...things have gotten stranger since we found out about the Multiverse; for some reason, a whole lot of very dangerous people seem to hate Yuugi, and want him dead or worse. I may not know why they do any more than I know who I am, but I know one thing--no matter what happens, I won't let anything happen to Yuugi because of me. Never again...

------------

"...we've found her!"

The commander looked up eagerly, scurrying over to the computer terminal where one of his agents was working, searching for the escapee. Finally, after days of work, results! Peering at the dimly lit screen, he grinned wickedly. Now she would pay...and they would all see what happened to all those who defied the might of the Chaos Army.


	6. Warm Welcome, Not

Author's note: Whee, I can do notes in quickedit now! I guess it's not so bad after all...except for the asterisks. I'm going to be away in Switzrland for 10 days, so no work will be done (yes, I know that's not much of a change from normal). Hrm, no review replies to do this time...well, if anyone reviews, thanks a bunch! Grr, no more tabs...darn. Oh, and...this chapter is a little violent. It's not really graphic or anything, but I just thought I'd put in the warning....well, enjoy.

Chapter 6—Warm Welcome, Not

Scat looked around, shivering slightly. It wasn't that she was cold; cold was something she was used to. Dark World was a cold place, and being a slave didn't help matters. Everything about this World was so new and amazing to her that she couldn't help but feel a little nervous. She was a stranger here.

One new thing was all of the life everywhere. In this place--the park, they called it--the ground was all green and soft, and there were tall things--trees--all over the place. There was water, and people weren't afraid of it. People laughed and smiled, walked along the paths and lay under the trees. Scat had never seen people so happy and carefree in all her life. In fact, she had never really seen people truly happy at all.

Scat wandered off to a deserted corner of the park, feeling more comfortable alone. She was not one of these people, and didn't belong with them. Scat had done something the old man referred to as "going for a walk" in order to see more of this strange new World, and it was somewhat overwhelming to her. In spite of this, however, she thought she might like it. Certainly, it was much better than being a slave.

Scat leaned back against one of the trees, savoring the moment; she had never seen any trees before coming to this World. Everything was so..._nice_ here. She wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it herself. Suddenly, she looked up. Scat had very sharp hearing, and she was almost certain she had just heard a noise...and not one the happy, benign noises of this World, either. She crouched behind the tree, looking around furtively. What could it be...?

-o-o-o-o-o-

Yuugi stood next to his desk, absently putting books into his backpack. He, like his classmates, had done this so many times it was almost second nature. Most of the children around him would go home after school and worry about their grades or their social life or some other normal thing.

Very few of them would be worrying about war.

Yuugi and his friends were a special group, singled out by chance rather than choice to know a secret they could never tell. This wasn't as easy as it had at first seemed; since they had discovered the Multiverse, they had led curious double lives, and Yuugi had it worst of all. Being a Guardian, he had no "normal life," nor had he ever. The Multiverse called being a Guardian a blessing and a curse; any Guardian would say it was true.

At the moment, Yuugi's mind was not on what he was doing, nor had he been focusing on what was going on for most of the day. He was thinking about Scat, and what a Chaos base in Dark World could mean. A few weeks ago, when Yuugi and Yami had returned from the Realm of the Lost, Vice had mentioned war in Dark the Overlord be trying to conquer it? It was certainly a possibility. According to Benjamin, many people had desired Dark World's most precious resource: its silversteel, the strange semi-organic metal found nowhere else in the Multiverse.

Yuugi finished putting his books away and went to get his tattered coat, as the other students were doing. Suddenly, however, he felt something--something strange but familiar. It was the "six sense" of the Guardians that warned them when someone intruded their World, especially with ill intent; someone was here, and Yuugi recognized the cold, slightly nauseating feeling of a Chaos being. The only reason Yuugi could think of for a Chaos creature to be here was in connection with the Overlord--with Scat. Dropping everything, he raced off toward the creature; it was close.

Tea looked around, perplexed. Students were filing out, but she didn't see her friend Yuugi...where could he possibly have gone? She turned to Joey and Tristan, who were hurriedly putting away their books to get out of school as fast as possible.

"Did you guys see Yuugi? He was here a minute ago..."

Joey shrugged, failing to see any significance in this. "Guess he went home."

Tea rolled her eyes. "Joey, his backpack and coat are still here."

Tristan looked thoughtful. "I dunno, you guys...every time Yuugi disappears, something bad happens."

Joey frowned, concerned for his friend; Yuugi had a knack for attracting trouble. "Den we gotta find him--if he's in trouble, we'll help him out!"

The others nodded, leaving to look for Yuugi. They didn't know where he might have gone, but they did know that Yuugi mysteriously disappearing, on top of an escaped slave showing up, couldn't be a good thing.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Scat backed up slowly, eyes darting about in search of an escape route. She had fled Dark World, only to be tracked down here! The Gating Device, she realized. They must have traced the Gating Device. Silently, she cursed herself for failing to disable it, but there was nothing she could have done--she was no technician. Scat knew it was hopeless. The base had sent two beings to catch her--a soldier and a demon. The soldier was a pale, skeletal Darkling, agile and ruthless. The Darklings were a solitary and suspicious people, but they were also survivors; this one had taken the Overlord's offer because it was his best chance to live for one more day. The demon's reasons were similar; in the Chaos Army, he had no need to fear the hatred of corporeal beings, and he would never starve again.

Scat tripped over a stone, unused to these surroundings. She knew she was finished; there was no way she could fight off these two. Scat was not afraid of death--she was in agony because she knew they would drag her back to the Chaos base, where she would return to her life as a slave. It was this fate which Scat despised; she had wished for death many times in her short life. She closed her eyes as they came closer, not wanting to watch the freedom she had barely tasted be taken away.

At that moment, however, help arrived in the form of the Guardian--Yuugi. Seeing Scat in trouble, he immediately ran over to fight with her. The Darkling soldier, however, was much more experienced, and easily knocked Yuugi backward. The demon, sensing the magical aura of the Millennium Puzzle, put a Seal on it. Although these two Chaos troops were not aware of the Puzzle's actual power--or Yami's presence--they knew it might be dangerous. Yuugi knew there wasn't much time left. He stuck his hand into his pocket, and--

Wait. Where was his deck? Yuugi frantically patted his pockets, but it was nowhere to be found. Then he realized...his deck was in his _coat_ pocket! Yuugi wouldn't be able to call to his monsters or use any of his magic without his cards, and they wouldn't know he was in trouble. Yuugi knew they were done for, and he was right. The two soldiers easily bound his and Scat's hands and Gated out, leaving no sign of their presence. Yuugi's friends would have no way of knowing what had happened to him or their strange guest.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The Chaos base was perched at the edge of the ocean on a piece of land that projected slightly into the water. No Darkling would have chosen this location; they knew their sea too well. However, the Chaos Army stationed at the base was careful to have no contact whatsoever with the sea, and thus it left them alone in turn.

Yuugi shivered as he looked at the dark, looming structure before him. Like most Chaos bases, it had flat, high walls, a battlement, and a single thick, steel gate. Troops patrolled the top of the walls. It was not a large base, but it didn't have to be. Dark World was in no condition to fight back, or even to realize its presence.

The demon slipped away across the dim, misty landscape, while the Darkling soldier reported at the gate and was admitted into the base. Scat was dragged off in one direction, while Yuugi was led off in another. He had no idea what was about to happen to him, but it couldn't be good.

They soon arrived at a small chamber. A bored-looking girl sat there, idly playing with her mouse-brown hair. She looked human, but Yuugi had no way to be certain. She looked up as they came in.

"New one, huh...? Guess that means I'm on duty now," she said unconcernedly, waving them over. The soldier shoved Yuugi forward, and the girl looked at the child before her appraisingly.

"Hmm...this one's kinda small. Where you gonna put him?"

The Darkling shrugged. He was slim and wiry, like most who lived in Dark World, and had slightly reptilian features. "It is none of your concern. Do your job."

The girl shrugged, then rolled up her sleeves. "Well, say goodbye your identity, kid," she said, placing one hand on Yuugi's head.

Yuugi felt panicked. He had heard of people who could separate someone permanently from their True Names, but he had never _met_ one. Having nearly lost his identity once, he was not eager to repeat the experience. There was nothing he could do, however. The girl shut her eyes in concentration, and Yuugi felt energy start to leave his body--a sign that the girl's magic was working. Suddenly, however, it stopped. He felt a faint tug inside him, but something pushed it away.

The girl fell to the ground, screaming and coughing blood. "Wh--wha--" she gasped, eyes wide with terror. She had never felt this terrible, searing pain before, pain that spread through her entire body like she was on fire. Her hand was gushing blood onto the floor, she was surrounded by a pool of red, her muscles twitched in agony. It was the most terrible pain she had ever felt.

The Darkling grabbed Yuugi's shoulders, shaking him. "What did you do!?" he rasped furiously, sounded slightly unnerved. Even he, who usually was said to have ice for blood, couldn't help a feeling of fear from trickling into him. He had never seen anything like this before.

Yuugi, however, had no idea what was happening. "I--I don't know!" he said, feeling very frightened himself. A strong force--a force from inside of _him_--had pushed back that tug on his identity, and he didn't know why.

The Darkling quickly switched on a box on the wall, which was evidently part of a base intercom system, and called both for a medic and some backup. The girl was carried out, while the Darkling debated what to do with another soldier. Yuugi understood only some of their conversation, as it was in Darkling. Then, another officer, this one a human, walked over. They switched to English.

"What happened here?" the officer asked brusquely.

The first soldier shrugged. "I don't know. She tried to take his name, but for some reason, it rebounded on her. He doesn't appear to know either, as far as I can tell."

The second soldier looked nervous. "You know the Lieutenant is inspecting us right now--we can't afford anything like this! What should we do?"

The officer considered for a moment. "...proceed as normal. Put him in with 24--he'll die soon enough anyway."

The two troops nodded, but did not salute; from the few Darklings who had been convinced to join the Overlord, the officer was lucky to get even a nod. They hurried out, dragging Yuugi along with them and stopping at a different room--a storage closet. One of them rummaged around on the top shelf before pulling out some assorted rags.

"Here--change your clothes. Give us everything you're carrying."

Yuugi knew that he had no choice but to do what they said or be killed. He changed into a uniform like Scat's; the slave uniforms of the Chaos Army, ill-fitting and uncomfortable, but cheap and practical. They didn't even have to make new ones when slaves died, as they inevitably did.

Yuugi was about to give them what he was carrying, but stopped. The only thing he had besides his clothes was the Millennium Puzzle--and he _would not_ give them that. Even if it meant his death, he would never willing let them have this, his most precious possession other than his deck. He stood resolutely, clutching the Puzzle in his hands.

"Give me that," the Darkling said flatly. He did not expect a slave to refuse orders, but of course he was more used to dealing with people whose identities had just been forcefully stripped from them. When Yuugi did not comply, he shoved him backwards and grabbed the Millennium Puzzle, which Yuugi did not let go of. A short contest of wills began, but the end was inevitable. The soldier grabbed the Millennium Puzzle and slammed Yuugi backwards into the wall.

"When you are given an order you will obey. Now come with me."

They led a very miserable Yuugi down the corridor again. Different doors and rooms passed by on both sides--private quarters, mess halls, meeting rooms, barracks--but Yuugi noticed none of them. He was too wrapped up in remorse for having lost the Millennium Puzzle. It was more than just an object to him--it contained Yami, his Guardian partner, and someone he considered to be like a brother. Since the day he had put the Puzzle together, Yami had protected him, and now he had failed to do the same in return.

Yuugi's guilt-laden thoughts, however, were soon interrupted by arrival at a new section of the base. They seemed to be underground now, judging from the slightly damp, rough rock walls. There were several doors leading out of this small chamber. Yuugi shivered as he heard screams issuing from some of them. His two guards stopped outside one door.

"Soon you will be put into your slave division. You will remain there unless you are transferred somewhere else for some reason. In all likelihood you will die here. However, before sending slaves to their divisions, we have to break them in. It helps teach something about obedience...and you certainly seem to need that." He opened the door and shoved Yuugi inside, then closed it and walked away.

Yuugi found himself in a dim, square room. There seemed to be things hanging on the walls, but he couldn't see them clearly. Walking forward slightly, he almost slipped in a wet pool on the floor. Yuugi realized that it was blood and felt like he was going to be sick.

A cold voice spoke from the back of the room. "Come here. NOW." Yuugi fearfully crept closer; at this distance, he could see that the walls were hung with racks of torture instruments. Out of the shadows stepped two figures: a slim woman with a narrow, angular face and dark crimson hair, and a man with long, bat-like ears, slanted red eyes, and leathery-looking skin. The woman bore a long, thin whip in one hand.

"Hello, hello...I love it when we get new slaves," the woman said, grinning wickedly and revealing sharp, fang-like teeth. "I think they have us do this to make all of you more cowed and obedient, but it's not like I care; I just like whipping people till they scream. Oh, and this is my brother; he does whips too, although his favorite is really water torture. Read about it in a book one time, you know." Her grin widened, seeing the look of complete terror on Yuugi's face. "Oh, don't worry...we won't be _torturing_ you, just whipping you a little."

The man stirred. "Don't go getting all chummy with a slave...you know you're not supposed to."

"Ah, of course," she replied, flashing her toothy smile again and brandishing her whip. "Okay, c'mere, brat. And take off your shirt--wouldn't want to get it ripped to shreds before you even start working. Don't be shy, now. You have to do as I say; you're a slave."

Yuugi knew she was right, and did as she said. He had never been physically tortured before, but he had friends, such as Benjamin, who had. Benjamin had never spoken about what had been done to him, but his terrible scars and loss of early memories spoke for itself. Yuugi knew that he wasn't as strong as Benjamin, who, according to Vice, had refused to cry out even when burning coals were shoved into the palms of his hands. He knew there was no way he could survive torture if Benjamin barely had.

The man, who Yuugi thought might be at least part imp, grabbed his hands and tied him by the wrists to a small post in the center of the room. He chuckled evilly; this was his favorite job as a member of the Chaos Army. Beside him, his sister grinned with anticipation. Before joining the Chaos Army, their lives had been made miserable by the prejudiced hatred of others, and this had given them a taste for causing pain and suffering.

Yuugi, kneeling on the cold, damp floor and about to be tortured for no real reason, shook with fear. He had been in dangerous situations before, but he had never been so completely alone. Before, even if he had been separated from his friends, Yami had still been with him. The only other time he had been alone like this was...the first time they faced Chaos...Yuugi tried not to think of this painful memory, knowing that he would soon be in enough pain without adding any of his own.

The woman raised her thin lash and brought it down sharply, making a harsh crack. Yuugi cried out in pain; there were plenty of nerves around the spine, so the back was a very vulnerable area for a human. Yuugi had felt physical pain before, such as when his throat was slit, but it had always been so much pain at once that he had almost immediately passed out. He had never endured protracted physical torment.

The woman snorted. "Sheesh...you're pretty pathetic. Shame, torturing someone like you...but orders are orders. Besides, I gotta have _some_ fun, right?"

Yuugi felt sick inside. They regularly tortured people...because they thought it was _fun_. They had become so bitter that other people's suffering brought them pleasure. He knew there was nothing he could do; how could he possibly stop them? He was already beaten. He would die here...

But unexpectedly, a different feeling rose up inside Yuugi. They wanted him to suffer. They wanted to hear him scream in pain. And, just as his friend Benjamin had done under similar circumstances, Yuugi suddenly decided not to. He couldn't stop them from hurting him, but he wouldn't let them hear him scream.

The woman lashed out with her whip again; she was an expert in causing pain without giving a fatal injury. To her surprise, however, her victim did not cry out or beg for mercy, as most did. She frowned, slashing harder. Still--nothing. She knew that it must hurt, and that could mean only one thing.

"Hmm...stubborn one, huh? Nice try, but it won't help you...by the time I'm done, your back's gonna look like someone ripped the skin off. Which is basically what I'm doing." It was terrible how she spoke in a conversational, almost bored tone of voice, as though this was completely meaningless. As though the pain she was causing meant nothing.

Yuugi lost all sense of time as the brother and sister lashed out with their whips, tearing gaping holes in his back from which fountains of blood spouted. If they hadn't made him take off his shirt, it would have been soaked with blood and torn open beyond all use by now. Yuugi could feel blood run down his back, dripping to the floor in stagnant pools. Pain beyond any physical torment he had ever experienced engulfed him; it was like a raging fire inside his body. Yuugi thought he would pass out, but the Chaos Army torturers were too skilled for that. It was their special talent to keep a victim conscious and in pain for as long as possible. Yuugi's mouth also filled with blood from biting the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming.

Finally, they were done. Cutting his hands free, they put away their instruments as Yuugi collapsed to the floor, unable to move. He wondered vaguely if he would be permanently crippled or if they had avoided that. The man dragged him to his feet, shoving his slave uniform shirt over his head.

"C'mon, brat--time to go meet your slave division. Don't know why you don't have a number, but it doesn't matter...you're slated for 24; you'll be dead soon enough."

He grasped Yuugi's wrist, dragging him forward by force; Yuugi fell more than once, although he tried his best not to--the man kicked him in the ribs to make him get up whenever he did. A trail of blood appeared behind them, but no one in the base cared about such things. Forcing slaves to clean up their own blood was at least slightly amusing for the soldiers.

They descended lower into the base, until only a few glimmering lanterns pierced the gloom. Yuugi was in no condition to observe his surroundings; the trip passed in a dim haze as he struggled to stay conscious. Finally, the reached a small, barred door, beyond which lay a damp, stinking room with thick stone walls. The man unlocked the door, and, placing a hand on Yuugi's back, shoved him inside with a smirk. Wiping blood from his hand, he relocked the door and left.

Yuugi lay where he had fallen, unable to move. He whole back felt like it was on fire, especially in the center where the man had pushed him. A roaring filled his ears, and finally, mercifully, he passed out on the floor. Yuugi had barely made it through his first experience as a Chaos slave; how would he survive the rest?


	7. Division 24

Author's note: ehehe...this chapter took a while. Sorry 'bout that. Thank you for reviewing, Serafinamoon! Were the POVs not clear? oops. I know the transitions were weird in the fifth chapter. Also, thank you Mitsuko-chan for reviewing! Yep, they're definetly going to get themselves in trouble. And thank you Matt for beta reading this. Enjoy, everyone!

Chapter 7--Division 24

Yuugi slowly felt himself return to consciousness. He didn't know how long it had been since he had been thrown in here; it hardly seemed to matter. His body was still racked with pain, so he didn't move. He could hear people talking softly nearby.

"I'm tellin' you, it's true! I heard 'em talking!" one voice whispered excitedly. It sounded like a boy.

"Ah, c'mon. There's no way..." another voice, also male, replied, sounding skeptical.

"Is so! You guys believe me, right?" the first said back.

"If you say so, then I guess. But still..." a new voice put in--this time a serious-sounding girl.

"It can't be. How could something like that have happened?" the second boy said.

Their conversation was interrupted by the room's door being yanked open. Someone was roughly shoved inside as a harsh voice said, "That will teach you to run off, rat." Yuugi heard a thud as a body hit the floor. Whoever it was sat up, groaning slightly.

"Scat!? No...they caught you..." said the first boy Yuugi had heard. So...apparently Scat was here as well.

"Yeah...but at least I got to be free just once..." Scat sounded sad, and in pain; Yuugi supposed she must have been whipped as well, although she seemed to be in better condition than he was. "Hey--it's him!" Scat added, noticing him.

"Who?" a new voice asked.

"This guy I met when I broke out," Scat explained. "Hey, you awake?" she said to Yuugi.

Yuugi tried to sit up, but couldn't. "Yeah..." he whispered.

"Don't move yet," Scat said. "The longer you sit still, the faster that'll heal. It won't heal all the way, but it's better than nothin'."

"You guys're lucky," the girl Yuugi had heard before said. "We had a battle today, so they won't have anything for us to do till tomorrow. Sorry 'bout you getting caught, Scat."

"It's okay, Krin," Scat replied. "I tried my best...it just wasn't good enough. C'mon, we should do something about his back...you can die if you lose too much blood, can't you?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure...right, Datch?"

"Yeah," said the boy Yuugi had first heard speak. "I think I heard that once."

"What do you think we c'n do anyway?" the other boy asked boredly. "He's gonna die either way...what difference does it make?"

"We did it for you too, Brell!" Scat snapped at him.

Krin agreed. "If we don't all help each other survive, we'll all die that much sooner."

"We'll die either way," another boy said. "You know we will."

"Shut it, Frac," Scat muttered.

"Yeah," Datch agreed, "we have to help him."

"Do what you want, I don't care," Brell said, crawling into a corner of the room to take a nap. Frac also wandered off. The others, however, remained to help Yuugi, who was wondering if he would be paralyzed for life by this. His Guardian body, however, was far more efficient at repairing itself than an ordinary human's; he hadn't even lost feeling in his back. This was a good sign, but Yuugi had some trouble thinking of it that way with all the pain it was causing him.

Scat filled her cupped hands with some filthy water from a tray in one corner of the room. She carefully poured it onto Yuugi's back, having seen the Chaos Army's healers wash wounds but not knowing why they did it. Scat assumed that getting an injury wet made it either heal faster or hurt less; it never occurred to her that an injury should be kept clean.

"Just sit still for as long as you can...I think you'll be fine. They were tryin' to keep you alive, after all."

"What if he gets sick? Sometimes that happens after people get hurt, doesn't it?" Krin asked. She had seen people become ill when their wounds became infected, but she didn't know about germs or bacteria, and so thought that wounds themselves made you sick.

Scat shrugged. "Maybe they were just gettin' sick anyway. Why would getting hurt make you sick? It just makes you feel kinda tired and weak for a while, that's all."

Only slaves who either overcame whatever illnesses they contracted from an infected wound or managed to avoid getting sick survived long in the Chaos Army. The Overlord's troops considered this a good thing, as it guaranteed that only the strongest and hardiest slaves remained to work. Fortunately, Yuugi had a strong immune system by virtue of being a Guardian; a Guardian's powerful connection to their World gives their body abnormal levels of energy.

Yuugi didn't move or speak for several minutes. Then, feeling slightly better, he looked up at Scat, who sat next to him. "....thanks," he said softly.

Scat managed a small smile. "Don't bother...you helped me first."

A new person, someone Yuugi had neither seen nor heard before, crept from a shadowy corner. He or she made barely any noise as they approached. "Who'th tha', Thca'?"

Yuugi gasped, seeing the person at last. She looked almost human, but some of her limbs were in the wrong proportions, she had silvery-gray striped fur, pointed, triangular ears set almost on top of her head, and a fluffy tail. Her eyes were wide and slanted, and the tip of her nose had the same rough texture as a cat's. Yuugi could see pointed teeth poking out slightly from her thin-lipped mouth; it was these combined with the odd shape of her mouth that interfered with her speech. On her face and arm were tattooed numbers: 206 and 24206.

Scat patted the ground next to her, inviting the cat-girl to sit. "Hey, Skitter. This is a friend I met when I got out. He tried to stop them from taking me back, but they got both of us."

"Thath sorry, Thca'. Wha' we gonna call him?"

Scat thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I dunno...I guess he can pick."

Yuugi frowned, confused. "Scat...I already have a name..."

Scat stared at him, wondering if her friend was delirious. No slave had a name once they were captured. "They took your name...you don't have one anymore."

Yuugi shook his head weakly. "No...didn't take it...still have my name...it's...Yuugi...."

All of Division 24 sat up and shouted, "WHAT!?" They quickly came over to Yuugi, Scat, and Skitter. Datch, a slim, wiry boy with pale skin, dark hair, and small spines sticking out of his elbows and the bones of his spine, grinned broadly, an unusual expression for a slave; it stretched the 291 on his face. "I told you! I told you it was true! I heard 'em say there was a name they couldn' take, an' it was true!"

Brell, a stocky boy with brown hair, muddy-colored eyes, and 185 on his face, looked skeptical. "But you can't stop them from taking yer name. Nobody can."

Ordinarily, Yuugi would have shrugged, but at the moment he wanted to move his shoulders as little as possible. "It didn't work...I still have my name."

Frac shifted nervously, thin face drawn as he stared at Yuugi, pale green eyes alight with interest. "How come? What happen'd?" he asked, nervously rubbing the 24606 on his arm.

Yuugi took a deep breath, still feeling weak from loss of blood. "I don't know...I don't know what happened." Yuugi knew that his identity had remained intact, but he didn't know why.

"Oh..." Frac sat bad, looking disappointed. Suddenly, he sat up again. "Hey--you don't have a number!"

The slaves all looked, and saw that he was right. They hadn't noticed at first because it never occurred to them that Yuugi wouldn't have a number; they hadn't bothered to look for it. Now they saw that his face, although slightly bloody, was otherwise unmarred, as was his arm.

Scat figured out why after a moment. "I guess when they couldn't take your name, they forgot about giving you a number...they usually do them together."

Krin smiled. Looking at her, Yuugi shuddered; her whole face was covered with heavy scars, as though someone had scraped her skin off with a knife; the 349 on her face was slightly warped from the terrible injuries done to the skin it was tattooed on. She had dark brown hair and stormy blue eyes, now narrowed in vengeful happiness. "You have no number, you still have your name...it's everything _they_ don't want."

Datch sighed sadly. "He'll prob'ly get one, though...they'll see it since the Lieutenant's inspecting."

Yuugi gasped, suddenly realizing what this meant. "Oh no--he'll recognize me!"

Brell snorted. "Why would the Lieutenant care about you?"

Yuugi shivered, thinking of the last time he and the Lieutenant had met. "He's looking for me...I don't know exactly why. Actually...the whole Chaos Army is looking for me. Vi--I mean Shang--said that the Overlord wants to capture me, but he didn't know why."

Frac laughed nervously. "That can't be...why would they want _you_?"

Datch looked thoughtful. "Wait...I think it's true. I heard them talking about looking for someone...a Summoner, I think. They said the person was a Guardian, too, but I'm not sure what they were talking about. Could it be him?"

Yuugi nodded. "If he finds me..." he couldn't bring himself to finish the thought.

Scat looked worried as well. "Yuugi, if you have a number there's a chance you can get by without being noticed, but...our numbers are tattoos. We can't give you a tattoo."

Krin shrugged. "We can scratch it in. This is underground, it's mostly just rock--there are little stones on the floor. Just use them."

Scat nodded. "I guess there's nothing else we can do. But...don't scratch it into his face. We can just paint that one on with some dirt or charcoal or something, we'll find some tomorrow."

"Why not?" Brell said harshly. "He won't last long anyway."

Scat glared at him, and he fell into a mulish silent. "We aren't giving him a scar on his face because someday he's going to get out of here, and he shouldn't have a number on his face his whole life."

The other slaves strongly disagreed with this. They knew full well that no one had ever successfully escaped from Chaos slavery--Scat herself had been recaptured.

"Scat, there's no way he's gettin' out. He'll die here like the rest of us, what's the difference if he has a number on his face?" Datch asked, shrugging sadly.

Scat shook her head. "No. They couldn't take his name, and they're not gonna keep him here. He'll get out--I just know it."

Skitter smiled hopefully. "Really, Thca'? He really ge' ou'?"

Scat nodded decisively. "He'll get out, Skitter. And so will we!"

No matter how difficult it was to believe this, the pitiful group was glad for any hope. They searched for any sharp stones to scratch Yuugi's number in with as Scat and Skitter explained more about the base to him.

"We'll give you 741--Luke just died, they won't have taken him out of the computer yet."

Yuugi sat up gingerly, wincing in pain. He wasn't sure how long ago he had gotten here, but he knew he must have been unconscious for several hours. Some of the wounds on his back were still leaking blood, but for the most part they had clotted over. As long as he stayed fairly still for a while, he would survive, although scars would most likely remain. "Isn't Luke a real name...?"

Scat shrugged. "I dunno...guess so. Luke was a transfer, he got sent from some place with a lot of water--he'd been an oar slave first, he said, rowing some thing called a boat. He said it traveled on the water, but I don't know. Anyway, he heard one of the overseers call his partner Luke, so he thought it'd be a good name.

You should prob'ly know a little about the base...we do different jobs, every division has a kind of job they do. We have 14, they're messengers and attendants and stuff like that...08, they're mostly something called demolition, it means they take stuff apart...03, they build stuff...we used to have 09 and 10, but they got put into one, 19, and they make little stuff, weapons, clothing, things like that...we used to have 06, trenchers like us, but they were wiped out...and there's us--24. We go into the battles and carry the weapons and supplies and stuff. That's why they always need knew ones for 24, we get killed a lot. When there's no battle, we get put in with the other divisions. They give us food and water one time every day...I think that's all you need to know. Just do what they tell you and keep quiet, and you'll have a chance of living longer. Oh, here are the others...hold out your arm."

Yuugi did so, closing his eyes; he didn't want to watch them carve a number into his skin with a piece of rock. He clenched his teeth, trying not to cry out at the pain. When they were finished, a bloody "24741" ran from his shoulder to his elbow on the outside of his arm.

"Okay...you should try to sleep a little now. We don't have long to rest normally, so we all gotta sleep while we can," Scat said, curling up on the floor. Skitter faithfully curled up next her, and the other slaves arrayed themselves around the room. Yuugi lay down on his stomach again, hoping that when he woke up he would be able to move normally.

_I wish Yami was here_, he thought as he fell asleep.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Gone?

What do they mean, gone? How can someone be just--gone? It doesn't work that way, it _shouldn't_, it can't...he can't be just--gone. How can I believe that my only living relative disappeared, apparently to another universe, and no one knows why or if he'll ever return? I can't believe that, I can't believe in other Worlds, and I can't believe that he's just missing. People don't just disappear.

Except that Yuugi has already disappeared...more than once. Except that that strange man--they called him Vice--shape-changed, and I know I didn't imagine it, as much I'd like to believe that I did. I know that pretending those other universes don't exist didn't bring my son back.

Yuugi's friends told me that he disappeared, and they didn't know where to or why. They said they were sure he'd be fine, that they'd fine him, no matter what it took. I don't know if they believe it, but if they don't know what happened or where he is, I don't know how they can possibly find him. But I won't destroy their hope. I know I did the same thing, after all.

It's easy to pretend that nothing is wrong, that everything is the way you always thought it was. It's easy to pretend that someone's coming back, even if you know they aren't missing, but dead. I know because I did that, when my son disappeared. I pushed it out of my mind that he was probably dead. Even now, it's hard for me to imagine that he's dead; to me, he's just...gone. There was never a funeral, never any closure.

So now that Yuugi has disappeared just like his father did, I find it just as hard to believe that anyone is going to find him. It's hard enough to believe that he's gone. How can you feel when someone is simply gone? Yuugi's friends said they don't know if he's in trouble, but I know he wouldn't worry them like that. He would have told them where he was going, or at least left a note.

That girl--Scat--she's gone too. Maybe they left together, or disappeared as it may be. They said she was from another World--a refugee. She seemed nice enough, if a little strange. Almost like those other strange people...the ones my son knew....

I never asked them who they were, or where they were from. To be honest, I didn't want to know; I had a feeling the answer would be something impossible. But I knew them--they were...nice people. Strange, yes, but they were nice people. They disappeared with my son; maybe they're dead too.

That man, Vice--he was one of them. He looks almost the same now as he did then; maybe a little older in his eyes. He used to have a friend, Gashiru they called him. All of them had their own strange names, and their own strange pasts, I suppose. They never spoke of it. And now...they never will.

Because they're gone, like my son is gone, like his wife is gone, like Scat is gone, like Yuugi is gone. They disappeared, no one knows to where. No one knew where my son went; no one knew how to find him. And now Tea, Joey, and Tristan tell me that Yuugi and their new friend Scat are gone, and they don't know where they are, or how to find them. They tell me it will be all right, but I can't help feeling that I may never see any of them again.

I never saw my son again, after all.


	8. Inspection

Author's note: ehehehe...yeah, I know this took a while. My laptop was in tech support for almost a month...but here it is. Serafinamoon, thank you for the reviews. Yeah, this whole section has a lot of character-torture, and Yuugi most of all...;;; and yep, Yuugi is in trouble now, no one knows where he is so they can't come to save him. Hope you like this chapter!

Chapter 8--Inspection

    No daylight reached the slaves of division 24 the next morning. Even had there been a window, Dark World's veiled sun would have shed little light. The Darklings did not mind this; they were creatures of the night.

    Yuugi, on the other hand, would have appreciated a little sunlight. Scat carefully shook him awake, and he sat up slowly, happy to note that his back didn't hurt as much today. If he had been a normal human, he probably would have started bleeding again just from that movement, but with his Guardian body, his back had already begun to scab over; the slaves had used some torn-up pieces of cloth to bind his thin shirt to his back, so that had helped stop the bleeding as well.

    "Inspection today," whispered Krin, coming over. "The Lieutenant's been checking all the bases, an' it's our turn to get looked over."

    Yuugi looked worried. "I just hope he won't notice me..."

    Brell snorted. "How could he not? Your hair's not cut, you don't have a proper number, and if he's already looking for you, he'll be able to pick you out. I say you don't have a chance."

    Datch hugged his knees to his chest, thinking. "Well...we still don't have anything to write with, but maybe we could put your number on your face in blood. Your arm's already fine, and once it scars you just have to keep dirt on the scars so you can read it." He quickly bit his index finger until it bled, then painted 741 on Yuugi's cheek. "There...that'll do for now."

    The slaves sat in a loose circle, talking; there was little else for them to do until the overseers came to get them. None of them thought of how cold they were, or how tired they were. They were so used to being cold, tired, hungry, and in near-constant pain that it seemed normal to them.

    "Wonder what we'll be on today..." Krin muttered idly, making patterns in the dirt on the floor with her finger.

    Scat shrugged. "Maybe we'll see Whir today...she could prob'ly get some coal or something so we can put your number on better. Whir's good at that--she can even write some letters."

    Yuugi sat across from her, trying not to move too much. "So, none of you knows how to write? How come you can speak English?" 

    This point had been bothering him for a while; the only way he knew to cope with an unescapable (at least temporarily) disaster was to not think about it too much. Yuugi knew that if he really thought about what was happening, he wouldn't be able to keep going.

    Scat nodded. "We can't write 'cause we never learned. I can't read too good either, but sometimes I know the letters. We can speak English 'cause we hear it all the time, so you pick it up pretty fast. I dunno why they all talk English, though. Actually they don't call it that, they call it human-talk. I guess a lot of places talk that, or something."

    Datch padded over, poking Scat's shoulder. "I think they're comin' now..."

    Datch was right; booted feet tramped down the narrow corridor, and the padlock on the cell door clicked with the turning of a key. A Chaos Army soldier walked in. He looked fairly human; Yuugi wasn't sure what World he might come from.

    "24, follow me. Inspection." Without even glancing behind to see if the slaves were following, the soldier walked back down the corridor. The slaves got up and walked silently after him; resistance never entered their minds. They knew the fate of the disobedient all too well.

    Yuugi looked around as he followed the slaves down the corridor. All of the walls were rough stone at first, but as the passage began to rise, the walls became smoother and better-lit. Finally, they took a pulley-operated lift platform up to a higher floor, where all the walls were harsh, smooth steel.

    The slaves pattered quietly through the cold, silent hallways. Chaos troops occasionally crossed their path, heading from place to place without emotion or comment. Apparently, the Lieutenant was inspecting the entire base, and everyone was on edge. The apprehension was almost palpable as division 24 was herded into the main hall, where other slave divisions and troops were already standing.

    The hall was a large room with a high ceiling. Like the rest of the base, its walls were flat, unadorned steel; the Overlord cared nothing for beauty. The purpose of Chaos architecture was to showcase power and inspire fear, not to impress with wonder.

    Scat and Datch shoved Yuugi behind them, hoping the Lieutenant would have too much else to look at to inspect them closely. They didn't know why the Lieutenant might be interested in Yuugi, but they knew that if he was caught, it would mean death.

    At one end of the hall stood two steel double doors, locked shut by two thick steel bars. Yuugi was just thinking that he was sick of looking at all this steel when two Chaos troops, one humanoid with paper-white skin and one reptillian, lifted the parallel bars from the entrance. The doors swung open.

    A collective shiver seemed to run through the waiting Chaos troops as a dark figure strode in, black cape swirling around him. The Lieutant surveyed the room with a piercing, dark-violet gaze. These were dangerous eyes, eyes of complete fervor and determination to serve their master well. The Lieutenant strode up and down lines of troops, looking into their faces, saying nothing. The Chaos army tried hard not to look nervous or flinch under that gaze; not all succeeded.

    Having finished his inspection of the troops, the Lieutenant turned his cold eyes on the Chaos slaves, the primary workforce of the army. The pitiful state of malnourished and filthy adults and children seemed to have no effect on him; he looked without a stirring of pity. He passed several divisions without comment before coming to 24.

    Lieutenant Gash's eye glanced dispassionately over the children he knew only as numbers, seeing nothing amiss. Yuugi shrank back behind Datch, praying that the Lieutenant would somehow not see him; he knew that to meet those eyes was death for him. The Lieutenant wouldn't bother to look at slaves carefully...they meant nothing to him...he wouldn't be seen....

    Suddenly, the Lieutenant stopped. At that instant, Yuugi looked up, and met the Gash's eye. _He must have seen me..._ Yuugi thought hopelessly. There was no way the Lieutenant hadn't seen Yuugi; Gash had looked right at him.

    The Lieutenant paused for a moment, expression unreadable; his eyes were so dark they were almost black. Then, however, he looked up and walked away. Yuugi breathed a mental sigh of relief; the Lieutenant must not have seen him after all.

    Gash strode to another, smaller doorway, ready to inspect the base itself now that he had finished with its occupants. The Chaos army began filing off, various groups going to their own sections of the base. Their soft whispers faded as they moved away from the hall. Other troops herded the slaves off to their assigned tasks. The inspection was over for now; it was time to get back to work.

    As Gash waited to leave, one of the Chaos troops walked up to him. It was a human woman, her face carefully expressionless. She had gotten the thankless job of reporting something to the Lieutenant, and she was determined to complete it without being reprimanded...or worse.

    Handng something to the Lieutenant, the woman spoke. "Sir, this was found on one of the slaves when they were captured. It emits an aura we don't recognize, and we thought it best to show it to you directly."

    Yuugi looked back, curious, and stopped dead. He would know the object in the Lieutenant's hands anywhere--_The Millennium Puzzle!_ The Lieutenant surely knew about Yami, but would he know of or recognize the Puzzle?

    The Lieutenant gazed pensively at the golden pyramid. He frowned, turning it over in his hands as he considered it. Finally, he looked up.

    "I will inspect this myself. Return to your post."

    The woman bowed and walked off. Scat nudged Yuugi and tugged his hand. "C'mon--we have to keep a low profile."

    Yuugi followed her out of the hall, wondering what would become of his trapped friend.

-o-o-o-o-o-

    Yami woke up slowly, lying on the stone floor of his soul room. It was a labryinth of dank stone corridors and endless doors, twisting in different directions in defiance of gravity, each one opening onto a new passage to get lost in. The whole space, however large it was (Yami had never seen all of it, as far as he knew), was filled with traps and pitfalls for any intruder, and unfortunately Yami himself on occasion.

    It was no surprise that Yami hated staying in his soul room; he had already been trapped in the Millennium Puzzle for about 3000 years, and he didn't want to spend any more time than he had to stuck in a cold, dark maze, especially since it was a continual reminder of the darkness of his past, and maybe his soul. Yami didn't know for sure, but he suspected this was the true significance of the soul room: it reflected the owner's soul.

    Considering all this, it was understandable that Yami was less than happy to be trapped in the Millennium Puzzle. He didn't know what had happened, but he guessed that his power--and the Puzzle's power--had been locked off or sealed somehow. Meaning that he was trapped, helpless, and completely useless to anyone.

    "Less than happy" was putting it lightly.

    "DAMN IT!" the frustrated spirit shouted to no one. He had learned to swear from listening to Joey and Tristan, and this seemed like a good time to put that into practice. After all...there was nothing else he could do but wait.

    Yami hated to wait.

-o-o-o-o-o-

    I hate this.

    I hate this, I hate this, I HATE THIS!

    I hate being trapped. I've been trapped for 3000 years--enough for anyone. Enough for a whole damn CIVILIZATION.

    I hate being helpless. Being at someone else's mercy is shameful--a sign of weakness. I never lose, and I AM NOT WEAK. I am not weak and I never will be. NEVER.

    I hate losing. I never lose--never. No matter how hard it gets, no matter how impossible it may be, I ALWAYS WIN. Always. No one beats me--ever. No matter what. I don't want to be trapped here, because it means that someone beat me, I lost and they won, I couldn't stop them.

    I hate being useless. Yuugi saved me when he completed the Millennium Puzzle, and if I spent all my life trying, I could never repay him for that. I need to be useful--if I can't help Yuugi, what can I do? I can't do anything on my own; if Yuugi doesn't need my help, I have no reason to exist. I have to be useful. I have to be able to help, because if I can't, then I'm nothing but a parasite, and I will never be that. NEVER.

    But that's what I am...isn't it? Yuugi doesn't really need my help. So I helped him beat Pegasus--he never would have met Pegasus if it hadn't been for me. So I helped him against the Chaos Army when we first met them--we never would have known about other Worlds if we hadn't gone to Duelist Kingdom. It's my fault we're in this mess. And what am I doing about it?

    Nothing. Because there's nothing I can do.

    I HATE THIS!


	9. Whir

Author's note: Ehehehe...yeah, this chapter took forever to come out. ;;; Sorry 'bout that...blame it on writer's block. bows My humble apologies. Thank to all readers, the next chapter WILL be faster (it couldn't get much slower, now could it?). Enjoy.

Chapter 9-Whir

Scat stopped by a large sign board on the wall next to the lifts. On it were written the assignments of the various divisions; since the slaves couldn't read, most of the assignments and divisions were listed using numbers.

The slaves saw numbers all the time, and although most of them probably couldn't do basic math, they could recognize the English number system employed by the Chaos army; demonic had no written language, the Darklings and Clanners refused to use their alphabets, and there was no other majority language, so English was used as the common tongue. Most people were capable of speaking it, so it worked well enough.

Scat examined the sign. A separate section was devoted to division 24; because they weren't needed for battles every day, different members of 24 were assigned to work with various other divisions.

"No battle today, so we get split up" she said to Yuugi. "You're with...19. That means you go with them" she added, pointing to another group of slaves.

The rest of division 24 trotted off to their various assignments, and Yuugi followed the members of division 19, not knowing where he was headed and not sure he wanted to know. The whole base looked the same to Yuugi; all of the walls and doors were the same material, and there were few signs or landmarks to distinguish one area from another.

Yuugi would soon have been hopelessly lost if not for division 19. They evidently knew where they were going; once the group reached an intersection, they split up and headed in different directions. Yuugi wasn't sure what he was supposed to do; so far, the other slaves had chosen to ignore him. He wasn't one of their division, and he looked bizarre in comparison to everyone else; his hair wasn't cut short and the number painted in blood on his face was starting to wear off.

"Here-come with me." Someone nudged Yuugi, and he turned around to see a tired-looking girl with hair that probably would have been blond-brown if it wasn't so dirty and gray-blue eyes. As they walked off down yet another corridor, identical to all the others, Yuugi noticed that she walked with a pronounced limp. Looking at her legs, he saw a long, pitted scar running from just above her left knee to her ankle. Yuugi shuddered, wondering how she could have gotten such a severe injury.

"I'm Whir" the girl said softly. "Um...if you don't mind me asking...why don't you have a number and why isn't your hair cut short? You can't have been here long."

Yuugi padded along behind Whir, trying to memorize the layout of the base so he wouldn't get lost if he had to go somewhere on his own. All the corridors looked the same, however, so Yuugi decided to give up on learning his way around the base and try to find out more about it from Whir.

"They didn't give me a number, and they didn't cut my hair...I think they just forgot."

Whir frowned, perplexed. "That's very strange...you have a number on your arm."

Yuugi glanced down at himself, wincing slightly when he saw the still-healing scars that read '24741.' "Yeah...the other slaves put it on for me."

At this point Whir stopped. Yuugi saw that they had reached a door, steel like everything else, which was apparently their destination.

"This is one of the kitchens...I'm usually assigned here. They usually don't even bother with a supervisor, since I can't run away."

Whir put her hand palm-down a small gray pad next to the door. It lit for a moment, then registered her handprint and opened the lock. Turning the knob, Whir walked into the kitchen.

The room was much more colorful than what Yuugi had seen of the rest of base so far, mostly because it was filled with various cooking utensils and ingredients. Long shelves lined the walls of the rectangular room, haphazardly covered with pots, pans, and other cooking junk. Meat hung from hooks in the ceiling, bins were stocked with vegetables and fresh fruit, and sacks of tubers, including, to Yuugi's surprise, potatoes, were scattered around the room.

"It does look pretty different from the rest of the base" Whir said, smiling. "Come on, we need to make something" she added, pulling things out of various cabinets. She checked a list tacked on the wall and began to set out her ingredients.

Yuugi was surprised; the other slaves hadn't been able to read. "But that list...you..."

"Hmm? Oh-I can read and write. They don't take your abilities when you lose your name...just who you are." She sighed sadly.

Yuugi started to help Whir move the pans and basins, trying not to stretch too much lest he reopen the wounds on his back.

"So...what does it really _do_ to you? If you don't lose what you know, then...what exactly do you lose"

Whir looked curiously at Yuugi. "What do you mean? If you're here, then you..." She fell silent, staring at Yuugi in shock. "But...how"

Yuugi shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know, they just...didn't."

Whir grabbed Yuugi's hand. "Where do you come from? What's it like? How did they take you" It had been so long since Whir had known anyone with a complete identity that she was desperate to hear about someone-anyone-else's life.

"You first" Yuugi said. "I still don't really understand the name thing...do you remember where you came from"

Whir sighed sadly, beginning to chop some vegetables. "It's not that you don't remember...at least, I think so. Most of the child slaves are captured fairly young anyway, so you don't remember much. But...I sort of feel like I remember something...except I don't, quite. It's hard to explain..."

"Well...what's the first thing you remember?"

Whir set down the paring knife she was holding, a far-away look in her eyes. "Well...it's not something about me, really. It's just something I sort of remember-like a story I heard a long time ago. It went like this..."

Whir's story

A little girl stood in the midst of what looked to her like a forest of tall grass, waving gently in the fragrant breeze. The open land stretched in front of her for what seemed like an eternity, the horizon a million miles away. The sky was a smiling blue face with the single bright eye of the sun watching over the rolling plains.

Turning, the girl surveyed the collection of dwellings behind her. They were constructed of sod bricks, made from the heavy, compacted soil of the plains around them. The houses were thatched with bundles of prairie grass, tied down with twine lovingly woven from the tough roots of the grass.

The little community was still; it was evening, and everyone had settled into their homes to rest after the long day. Life on the plains was hard, but the girl didn't care. It was _her_ life, _her_ home, and that was what mattered.

Brushing back her waist-length blond-brown hair, the girl looked again at the horizon. Something in the back of her mind was nagging at her, telling her something was amiss in this silent, endless landscape.

Wait. Silent? The plains were many things, but rarely were they silent. In the evening there were insects buzzing and small prairie animals scurrying about, birds swooping unexpectedly out of concealed nests to snatch up a tasty meal. Where had they all gone?

The girl frowned, perplexed but not unduly worried. She was too young to know that there is only one time that the prairie falls silent: before disaster strikes.

Sometimes that disaster was a terrible storm, splitting the sky with crackling bolts of lightning. Sometimes it was a wandering animal seeking prey. Once, when her mother was her age, the earth had shaken until the villagers thought it would fall to pieces. But this time was different.

This time, the danger was no natural thing. This time, there would be no picking up the pieces afterwards, no optimistically rebuilding and facing the future together.

This time there would be only death.

A strange humming sound filled the air, startling everyone in the little community. The people flocked out onto the plains, staring up at the sky. They could not understand where this mysterious sound had come from; they had never heard a complex machine in operation before. Then suddenly, everything went terribly wrong.

The sky seemed to burst in a flash of blinding light, and an armada of war machines appeared, floating in the sky. They were like floating citadels, sitting in the sky with a casual disregard to gravity. They were roughly circular in shape, tapering down to long points on their underside. This improved their balance, allowing greater mobility. Masses of people scurried over each of the towering behemoths of the sky, and all the while, the villagers looked on, not understanding. What was happening? Why them?

That was a good question; why this village, this World? Why the large attack force? The villagers could not know that they were not even the target of this attack. Some parts of their World were inhabited by dragons of many varieties and abilities, and the Overlord was extremely interested in recruiting some, or failing that, merely acquiring them. He had sent these aerial war machines to combat the extreme versatility of the dragon's sky-based fighting abilities. This village was merely on the way, and the Overlord's troops had decided to entertain themselves by destroying it.

The only thing that bothered them was the speed with which it would be pulverized; they wouldn't even get to hear the villagers scream.

The people began running in all directions, fear overtaking the common sense that would have told them there was no escape. Something shot out of one the warships-it looked like a massive ball of fire. The vengeful comet struck the center of the village, sending out a massive shockwave and a burst of intense heat. Those close by were incinerated instantly; those unlucky enough to be farther away were covered in horrible burns.

The little girl was outside the village; she had begun running, and like many of the villagers, had gotten far enough away to avoid the thermal damage of the attack. However, she was knocked off her feet by the shockwave from the missile, and lay still for a moment, exhausted from the adrenaline rush of flight and the intense fear of the attack.

A few troops disembarked to see if there were any survivors worth taking prisoner; surely the Overlord would be pleased if he gained not only dragons, but some knew workers as well. Someone roughly grabbed the girl by her hair, yanking her to her feet. She screamed in pain and twisted to bite the attacker's hand, forcing them to drop her.

With a cry of fury, the armor-clad creature behind her pulled out a blade, enraged. As she tried to run, he struck her, making her fall to the ground again. Then he sliced open her leg, laughing with sadistic pleasure.

"There...now you'll never run again, little rat."

Just before she passed out, the girl vaguely saw some kind of air transport bringing them up to the war machines. Her home was gone, her people dead...and she had been taken. But where?

the end

"...and that's how it went" Whir finished, sighing. She continued to work, not even needing to look at her hands; these tasks had become habitual.

Yuugi just stared at Whir in a mixture of shock and confusion. "But Whir...that person...was _you_, wasn't it"

Whir frowned thoughtfully. "I...I think...it seems almost like...like _maybe_...but...no. No, it couldn't have been...it just...couldn't."

At last, Yuugi had discovered the secret of the Chaos Army's name removal. It didn't erase memories-that wouldn't be painful enough. Not remembering your past wouldn't stop you from forming a future. The taking of a True Name simply eliminated the _connection_ to one's memories, the ability to realize that those past events had happened to _you_. Yuugi suspected that it also damaged the ability to connect a sense of self to new memories as well.

"That's why we give ourselves names" Whir said, bringing Yuugi out of his dark thoughts. "Because we can't just be no one...we have to be someone. You'd go mad if you weren't..."

But this was not quite true. Without a name-without a sense of _self_-you could not go mad. You could not become anything, because you were nothing at all. Nameless beings simply wandered through life, never truly experiencing it or having any idea that they were a part of it all. They simply existed.

Whir efficiently finished preparing the food as instructed, and put away all of her tools. Yuugi had been no help whatsoever, but Whir didn't complain; she understood how complicated and distressing this must be. She had a feeling it had been difficult for her when she had first arrived...but no...she had always been here.

"Come on" Whir said softly. "We have to go help the rest of 19...they're probably in weapons production."

Yuugi followed Whir out of the room, deep in thought. The more he heard about the Chaos Fortress, the more terrible it seemed...and he had a feeling it was going to get worse.

-o-o-o-o-o-

I do not understand.

All my life, I have sought to understand things, to find logical explanations and connections. Knowing how and why makes accomplishing goals so much simpler, and I have always been one to accomplish my goals.

But now I do not understand, and there is nothing that can tell me why.

I have reasons for the things I do, reasons for the choices I make. Even if I tell no one, there are always reasons. I always have my final, ultimate goal in mind, my guiding principle. Never have I abandoned it, and never shall I. I have never regretted what I do, what I have done-there has never been anything to regret.

But now...

Now I am not sure. I am uncertain, undecided, and I do not like it. Indecisiveness is a terrible, weakening disease that slowly saps the strength of the mind until there is nothing left but a feeble shell with no willpower at all. I swear now, as I have sworn before, that this will not happen to me. I shall never stand in uncertainty, looking down two roads and having no idea which to travel on.

But what happens when I do not even know if what I see before is a road or an illusion, a fever dream of my own devising? Could I have been wrong? Is this not my own path at all? But it must be-I chose it.

Or at least...I thought I did.

I never wondered if I made the right choice. It simply did not occur to me. All my life, I had carefully thought through every decision, knowing that I could not make it twice. I was thorough. I was cautious. I was certain there was no other way.

But what if there was?

I know that once a decision has been made, there is no going back. It is pointless to wonder 'what if I had chosen this?' or 'what if I had done that?' It is not possible to go back and change what has been done, so the only thing to do is move forward. This is how live, how I have always lived.

So why? Why did I do it?

I simply cannot understand. My decisions have always come from my mind, from careful examination of all the variables and possible outcomes. I have never been an impulsive sort. But this time...this time I did not think of what my duty was or what would benefit the majority or what would contribute to my goals. This decision came from my heart, and I know it.

It is not so much _what_ I decided as why I did. Is there still some bond there, some unpayed debt that I cannot consciously understand? Is there something within me, some half-dead loyalty or meager intuition that tells me this is right?

Because I know it is right. I know that if there was some way to go back and make this decision over again, I would do it just the same. This was the right thing to do, I am certain. I have made my choice and I must reconcile it to myself, even if I cannot claim to understand it. What is done is done; so be it.

But...why?


	10. Weapons Production

Chapter 10--Weapons Production

Yuugi padded down the corridor after Whir, the two slaves making almost no sound with their bare feet. Yuugi wasn't sure why the Chaos Army would want slaves, especially children, to produce weapons; why would the Overlord let slaves have potentially dangerous materials? As he thought about it, however, it occurred to him that he himself had no weapons training, and it was unlikely that the other child slaves would either.

The Overlord really had an ingenious scheme. People without identities had little willpower, and thus would not rebel. Of course, the Chaos Army never expected the slaves to give _themselves_ names; they severely underestimated their captives.

"This is where they actually make the weapons; they don't have us do that," Whir whispered as they passed a pair of large steel doors, reinforced and set with heavy hinges and bolts. Yuugi could hear banging and the sounds of machinery coming from behind it, as well as many voices shouting back forth to each other.

"The Army actually manufactures the weapons themselves...I guess they don't trust the slaves to do it. But we assemble the weapons," Whir added. She continued down the hall until they reached a smaller door. Above it was a small sign reading "weapons production." Yuugi supposed the sign was for the Chaos Army troops; the slaves wouldn't be able to read it.

Whir put her hand on the touchpad beside the door, and it slid open. The room inside was fairly spacious, the walls lined with shelves full of various half-completed weapons and materials. There were bins filled with metal and wood components, and diagrams on the wall that showed how to assemble everything. Yuugi noticed the diagrams had no words; they were explained entirely in pictures.

At one end of the room were several small tables, around which were seated the slaves of division 19, assembling weapons for the armies that destroyed their lives. Some glanced up when Whir and Yuugi entered before going back to their work; as a rule, the slaves had few close friends. They were too shattered by their miserable existence to be close to many people.

One boy, however, smiled and waved to Whir, gesturing her to his table. He had the sort of face that would have been pleasantly round if not for the near-starvation diet of the slaves, and looked almost bizarrely peaceful and content in such a miserable place.

Whir walked over to the table, pulling Yuugi along with her. The boy who had waved to Whir pushed his sandy-brown bangs out of his eyes and looked curiously at Yuugi, taking in this new arrival with bright green eyes.

"Who's that, Whir? He can't be new--his hair's all grown out."

The other person seated at the table glanced up. Matted black hair hung into his eyes slightly and covered his ears; he had obviously been here for some time. Yuugi shivered slightly as two ice-blue eyes locked onto his, coldly assessing him. Apparently seeing nothing of particular interest, the boy looked down again. His pale, slender hands reached out for a steel-tipped arrow and began adding the feathers to it.

Whir sat down at the table and started working with the ease of long practice. "This is Yuugi. He actually is new...with 24."

Yuugi sat down next to Whir, looking uncomfortably at the dark-haired boy next to him. He stared fixedly at the table, not needing to watch his work. There was something oddly familiar about him...Yuugi didn't think he had ever met this strange person before, but they reminded him of something, something he couldn't quite place.

"I'm Brent," the brown-haired boy commented lightly. "And this here is Fletch," he added, gesturing across the table. Fletch didn't even look up. He continued to mechanically assemble arrows; that seemed to be his specialty.

"He never talks," Brent said, lowering his voice slightly. "We call him Fletch because he's the best at fletching the arrows--that's when you add flights to them," he added, seeing Yuugi's blank look. Since this didn't help, Brent sighed and said, "The feathers...they're called flights. When you put them on, you're fletching the arrow. The wood part is the shaft, the head is the part on the tip--an arrowhead, get it?--and the whole thing is the arrow. Got it?"

"I think..." Yuugi said uncertainly. He had never tried to assemble a weapon of any sort before. Yuugi picked up one of the long, heavy arrow shafts, examining it. Watching Fletch, he saw that adding flights was something he probably shouldn't try until he had more practice...Yuugi turned his attention to the arrowhead.

The arrowheads were made of sharp-edged steel, and bound to the shaft with thick twine. Yuugi watched Brent lash the base of an arrowhead to the end of the shaft, then tried to copy the pattern. Sadly, he ended up with a knotted mess of twine and a stubbornly detached arrowhead.

Brent rolled his eyes. "You gotta practice, or they'll prob'ly whip you. The Chaos Army only keeps productive slaves. Here--let me show you."

Luckily for Yuugi, Brent was an extremely patient person, and Yuugi got the hang of it after a few tries. Whir took to assembling the mechanical weapons, since the other three were working on simple weapons, and easily clicked together what looked like gun parts. Brent left the bow-and-arrow making to Yuugi and Fletch, moving on to binding sword and ax hilts.

"So what's up with you anyway?" Brent said amicably. He hadn't heard Yuugi's story yet, and he was sure there must be one.

Yuugi paused for a moment, thinking about the mess he had gotten himself into. What _was_ up with him? No matter where he and his friends went, an evil maniac followed...Yuugi smiled, remembering Pegasus and the Big Five. Then he sighed. Things had certainly gotten more complicated.

"They got me when they recaptured Scat...I tried to stop them, but I didn't stand a chance. Then when they tried to take my name, something really weird happened, and it kind of...backfired, I guess. So, now I'm here. Of course, I'm still not exactly sure where here _is_...are we in Dark World? Scat thought we might be."

Brent nodded. "Yeah, we're in Dark World. 'Course, Whir'd know more about the place than me."

Whir put down a finished sniper rifle, picking up more parts from a bin. "I do a lot of outside jobs...they know I can't run away with my leg, so it's no danger for them. The sky is always so dark, even when the sun is out--it looks like it's covered with a veil, almost. It's pretty creepy..."

Yuugi was now positive that he was in Dark World; that description matched the eerie sky of the dying Akarana perfectly. He wondered what Worlds Brent and Fletch had come from...and what, if anything, they remembered of them.

"Brent...do you remember anything about where you came from? You know--the place you were before they captured you and brought you here." Yuugi watched him eagerly, wondering if Brent would know more about his past than Whir.

Brent's face contorted with the effort of 'remembering.' "Well...I don't really know. It's just that I think...I think I was never anywhere else than here, actually. Being here is the first thing I can remember. But...I have an idea about a different place--not a place I've been, mind you, but just one I might have heard of somewhere..."

Brent's story-

A boy with sandy-brown hair sat perched on the roof of a small house at the edge of town. He closed his eyes, tilting his face to the sun and smiling. Today was a perfect, beautiful day. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

He leaned forward, opening his eyes and gazing around him. The little town was bustling with activity. His own home was just down the street from the market square, where buyers and sellers alike roamed about, picking over selections and finding everything they needed, from farm tools to spell components.

The boy slid down from the roof and ran off down the street, eager to go visit the botanist. The rambling building was perched on a hill just past the border of town, looking somewhere between a laboratory and a well-loved, if slightly run-down, house. Plants grew over every available inch of space, bursting from the walls and running along the fences with unbridled enthusiasm for life.

The boy was at home among the plants, considering himself a friend rather than a master to them. As an apprentice earth elementalist, all that grew was an ally to him, and all that opposed life was his enemy. He delighted in raising the garden he had planted outside his house, practicing his magic to increase the size and endurance of weeds, flowers, and vegetables alike. His best friend and school mate, a water elementalist, also helped him. Yes, life was good.

The boy stopped on his way to the lab to greet all his neighbors; the wind elementalist who lived next door and owned far too many cats, the fire elementalist who lived two blocks down and was no longer allowed in the library after the tragic book-burning incident, the fellow earth elementalist who worked at the grocery store, the water elementalist who had built a pond in his backyard. They were all his friends, his allies, fellow elementalists struggling to eek out a living in their often hostile world.

The boy stopped suddenly, feeling a tug at the inner flame of his magic. He looked around, frowning, and saw that the other elementalists were doing the same. Something was disrupting the balance of nature, and nature was not happy about it. The elementalists were duty-bound to defend their World from any and all threats, and this one was feeling more dangerous every second.

Just as the elementalists were getting themselves organized to find the threat and eradicate it if possible, something happened...something no one could have expected.

Without warning, everything went terribly wrong.

The sky burst open with a blinding flash of light, and an immense creature shadowed the town with its vast wingspan. It stretched across the sky, covered in pebbly reptilian skin, gazing down at the pitiful creatures who assembled to fight it, fire in its glittering jade eyes. It opened its heavy jaws in a crocodile's grin, dripping yellow teeth imitating a smile that was only the anticipation of a massacre.

The vast wings of long, fragile bones with flaps of leathery hide stretched over them showing every pulse of blood through the veins within flapped idly, knocking the boy off his feet with the sudden rush of wind. The creature swooped lower, hovering about the center of the town; the boy could foresee a fiery death in its brilliant red scales and vast, wet cavern of a mouth. The long, agile tongue flicked out for a moment, snake-like. This creature generated an aura of fear, a panic so complete that everyone was frozen.

And then the worst part came.

Atop the creature's back sat a lone figure, a humanoid in night-blue scale armor wielding a throwing lance. On the mysterious figure's head was a helmet fashioned to look like the scaly head of the beast that had so suddenly appeared. The figure pulled off its helm, and a cascade of pale blond hair fell to the dragon rider's waist. Her face was thin, angular, and cold. She reached into an inner pocket for a moment, then pulled out a new terror, worse than either of the others.

In her hand was a circular jade plate. It was translucent and had a runic design on it that the boy did not recognize. Those around him obviously knew what it meant--there were gasps of fear and shock. The dragon rider smirked, holding the object over her head and speaking a Word of Command. A blinding light flashed out of the seemingly harmless object, and every magic user in the vicinity collapsed in terrible pain.

The object was a magic Seal that blocked all magic users in range from using their power. The Sealing of their auras was extremely painful...now the elementalists would be too weak to fight back.

The dragon soared lower, and its rider slid off its back, landing lightly on the ground. The elementalists were now in dire straights, some writhing on the ground in pain, others passed out. They couldn't understand how this one person had so much power--only a vast amount of magic could cripple so many of the elementalists at once. Even the extra power provided by her dragon couldn't possibly be enough. And then, the answer appeared.

The already disastrous day got worse.

The sky tore open again and more dragons entered their World, ready to attack and decimate the town and the countryside for miles around. They were of various colors, from the electric blue with lightening breath to the more well-known reds breathing fire. The attack itself was a blur; the boy saw people melting in pools of acid, screaming in pain as they burned like torches, trying to run and barely being able to stand. He knelt on the ground and wept helplessly, unable to do anything to help and hating himself for it.

Mercifully, he was struck on the head by falling rubble, and the attack faded into blackness.

the end-

"...and that's all that comes to mind at the moment. But I guess it's not really important. I mean...it's just a story."

Brent finished off the leather binding on the sword hilt in front of him before setting it aside. He sighed, looking down at his hands. "I do wish that I _could_ remember, though...something about me...but I don't think there's anything before coming here _to_ remember." Brent looked at Yuugi thoughtfully. "But you...they couldn't take your name, right?"

Yuugi mutely shook his head, still absorbing Brent's tragic story. Brent frowned, an unusual expression on his normally contented face. "It's certainly good...but why?"

_ That's what I'm wondering_, Yuugi thought to himself. Yuugi had seen many strange things since discovering the Multiverse, but had never encountered someone with a name like his. How had he gotten it, and why did it protect him from the Chaos Army's name-stealing abilities?

_ Did my parents know about my name? Was that why they gave it to me?_ _I don't see how they could, but...how else could I have gotten my name? I'm sure my grandpa would have told me if it was something important...wouldn't he?_

Yuugi's futile questioning was interrupted by the ringing chime of a bell. "That means we're done here...come on," Scat said, pulling Yuugi along behind her as she headed back to division 24's living area. Yuugi was surprised; he'd been so caught up in Brent's story, he hadn't noticed time passing.

"Where are we going now?" Yuugi asked, trotting along after Scat.

"Back to 24's area...that's it for today. You probably think we've barely done anything, right? Most new ones feel like that...you lose track of time in here."

Yuugi and Scat returned to the dank misery of division 24's living area, which looked more like an overlarge holding cell to Yuugi. The slaves curled up in various spots on the floor, drifting into fitful sleep. Yuugi sat in a back corner, watching all of them. Brell and Fratch sprawled out in the opposite corner, Krin and Datch staked out a spot near the back wall, and Skitter curled up next to Scat, shivering even with her fur. All of them were used to the daily routine of drudgery in the Chaos Army, moving ever closer to their inevitable deaths. The only question was what would kill them.

_ What kind of life is that?_ Yuugi wondered sadly. _The Chaos Army took away everything from them...this is all they know. How could anyone do this...?_ Yuugi lay down, trying to get some sleep before he had to go through the same thing the next day. _I wonder how everyone is back home...grandpa must be worried._ Thinking of his friends and family, Yuugi's eyes closed.

_ I wonder if I'll ever get home...?_

-o-o-o-o-o-

I know it is hard for them.

They want to know where he is--how to find him. They want to aid him. I know they are frustrated, sitting here waiting while their friend is in danger. I know they feel...

I know what is to fear for your friends. I know what it is to weep with rage as you are forced to sit back and watch while they are harmed. I know what it is to hate yourself beyond any other hate you have ever felt because you could not save them. I know what it is to fail in your duty to your friends.

It is like a nightmare for me...a nightmare I can never escape. I will watch them fail their friend as I failed my own friends...I will fail this one as I have failed others. But what can I do?

I cannot aid them. I cannot tell them where he is. How can I know? Why do they think I am keeping this from them? Do they not realize that if I knew I would long since have gone to find him myself?

But they cannot help themselves. They are frightened, they are confused, and they are aware that I know more than them, even if I do not know everything. They cannot help latching on to any last hope. They cannot help believing that there is some way for them to save him.

They have been a team through many an ordeal now; it is hard for them to imagine it otherwise. They are frustrated that this one time, when their friend is truly alone and in need of aid, they are helpless. They do not yet realize...

They have never faced an enemy of this caliber before. All those they have previously fought were nothing compared to this being, this unstoppable force. The man called Pegasus--he was an amateur, a fanatic obsessed with a single, crazed goal. Those they refer to as the "Big Five"--a group of cowards brave only in numbers who had not even the strength to create their own trap, instead stealing it from the one they attacked. Even when they traversed the Multiverse, they faced no one of such unparalleled cunning, such unmatched strength, such callous cruelty. How can they hope to defeat even one of his underlings?

I know they have given everything of themselves, all their strength and all their hearts. I know they have done their best to comprehend the enormity of the situation. But I also know there is simply no hope that they can win. They are not warriors; they are not tacticians. They have no experience, and their foes are masters of their crafts. Resistance to this threat is limited because knowledge of it is almost nonexistent; even where awareness exists, efforts are scattered and vastly outnumbered.

The only hope for them, for anyone, cannot lie in any of us. It must lie in the hope that the Overlord's fears are well-founded. It must lie in the hope that somehow, in some way I cannot fathom, Yuugi holds the power to defeat this menace. It seems impossible, but I can only have faith. It was never specified how Yuugi would be able to defeat the Overlord, so speculation is useless. I can only protect all of them from danger for as long as possible.

But although I have fought all my life for survival, I am a scholar at heart; I have neither a mentality nor a tactical mind. I cannot predict the opponent's moves. I cannot guess at the pools of the heart. I can only protect these few, and now I have failed even in this. Yuugi is missing, and neither his friends nor I can help him.

If the Overlord has found him, there is no hope. We cannot defeat the Overlord; he has only refrained from striking the Shadow World and killing everyone in it up to this point because he is uncertain. He does not know why Yuugi is the one capable of defeating him, so he cannot act for fear of triggering this unknown power. But if he should capture Yuugi...examine him...find out the truth...what then? None of us can help Yuugi now; this time, he must help himself. But if the Overlord has found him...what then?

What do we do then?


	11. Combat Experience

Author's note: ehehehe...sorry this took so long. I'll try to be more timely with future updates...really! In case it wasn't clear, the POV at the end of the last chapter was Vice. Thank to allreviewers...are we still allowed to put notes to reviewers? Just in case, I'll just give a general thank-you. Enjoy the (admitantly late) chapter!

Chapter 11--Combat Experience

_It was dark._

_This barely registered in his mind. It was always dark here; so be it. He was a creature of the night, he reveled in darkness. So many people looked upon his World and sighed at the tragedy. They could not understand, would never understand. He understood. He saw what they could not see. There was no tragedy but in the mind. He was not tragic, would never be tragic. His soul did not invite pity. If his was a harsh life, so be it. So be it if every day was a struggle to survive. So be it if every night he was aware that he had merely extended his life for one more nonexistent sunrise. So be it if his world was washed in blood._

_So be it._

_This was his life, his choice. If it was a dark one, it only reflected his nature. One who sees in the dark has no fear of night. One whose heart has died has no fear of losing his life. This was his darkness, and he would not exchange it for the light of a thousand infant suns._

_No need to run from a darkness that was mirrored in his soul._

_-o-o-o-o-o-_

_The lookout was shouting--something coming towards them, moving fast. His eyes raked the barren, misty plain, searching for confirmation of the report. Nothing...no--wait! There--the grasses rustled like a cat stalking prey, shifting apart in a rapidly approaching line as something rushed toward them, unseen in the ocean of grass. The grass was golden yellow, beautiful in death. It cast sharp, confusing shadows in the distorted moonlight, making it difficult to keep the approaching enemy in sight._

_He did not need to see it to know that it was an enemy. Everything that approached was an enemy._

_The moon shone on his gaunt face as he ascended the lookout post, limbs pulling him upward like a spider. The same faint moonlight bathed the lookout beside him the pale white of a corpse as he pointed behind them. Something else was approaching--flanking them._

_He heard the kara-kacho calling them into position, drawing everyone back into the shadow of the crumbling building they lived in so they wouldn't be struck from behind. He nocked his bow, listening in the dark for the tell-tale rustle of grass that would give him a target to shoot at. He needed no visible target to attack; the enemy that could hide from his eyes could never hide from his ears._

_There--to the left. He drew back the string and sprang from hiding, sighting as the target leapt forward as well, bearing down with a lance. He waited for the enemy to get in range...waited...but then--from above! He pulled back into a crouch, groping for a short-range weapon as he looked upwards to see--_

"Yuugi--Yuugi!"

Yuugi sat up, half-expecting to see someone standing before him, poised to attack. Instead there was only Scat, shaking him awake.

"Come on--there's a battle today," she said, heading for the door with Skitter at her heels.

Yuugi followed her, trying to remember his dream. It had been vividly real, so much so that the waking nightmare of enslavement in the Chaos fortress seemed dreamlike in comparison. Now that he was awake, however, he felt it slipping away. He struggled to hold on to it, but it was like trying to hold water in his hands; it was quickly gone.

Yuugi shook himself, trying to come fully awake as he followed Scat and the other members of division 24 down one of the many identical steel corridors. He wasn't entirely sure what the slaves had to do in battle; he couldn't imagine the Chaos army leaving its military victories to groups of malnourished children.

A pair of Clanner warriors led the slaves to their destination, paying them little attention. One, a woman with dark, tanned skin and smooth black hair, was obviously furious about something. She shot sidelong glares at her companion, a pale, brooding young man carrying a spear, but said nothing for a few moments. Then, glancing around to make sure no one was listening (apparently the idea of the slaves eavesdropping did not occur to her), she began arguing with him in a barely-restrained whisper.

"This is ridiculous! We are not some hired hands to be ordered about at the discretion of a--"

Her partner shushed her quickly, giving her a glare of his own. "Don't talk like that! They'll hear you somehow, and then it will be the end for both of our Clanns. Things are bad enough without_ your_ people making them worse!"

"Making them worse?" the woman hissed back, now shaking with rage. "Making them _worse_? Death would be preferable to this--this--" She lapsed into furious silence, having no words for the shameful position she and her Clann were in.

"Perhaps it would; it doesn't matter," the man replied coldly. "The penalty for disloyalty is far worse than death. I would not report a Clanner of any Clann, but if you do not wish to discover the price of your words for yourself, I would advise you to keep such opinions quiet."

The look on the woman's face was reply enough, and her partner also fell silent. Most of the slaves, used to their masters whispering amongst themselves, didn't bother listening, but Yuugi did. Yuugi was perplexed by the apparent paradox of Clanners serving the Overlord; with their strong honor code, the Clanners would never submit to such an alliance if they didn't want to...but then why their obvious anger at the situation?

Seeing that they had reached their destination (another steel door), Yuugi realized he had better stop worrying about the Clanners and start worrying about this battle. From what Scat had said, division 24 was continually getting new members to replace those killed in battle; the odds of survival were very low.

The female Clanner opened the door, and the slaves filed inside. The room they entered was a large hall, with doorways on all sides. Many of these doorways were filled with Clanner troops filing in to stand with the other members of their respective Clanns in orderly rows. Even though they would fight and die together, the Clanns did not even look at one another if they could help it, let alone speak. The Clann leaders were attempting to discuss their strategy, with little effect. So far, the Clanns serving the Overlord acted as fairly autonomous units, taking orders but showing little interest in the Chaos Army at large, and even less in each other. Even with their lives at stake, the Clanners could not overcome their old feuds and rivalries.

Only one wall of the room was not broken by doorways. This side contained several shallow alcoves, lined with shelves. Some held bins full of something Yuugi couldn't quite make out; others held cases full of maps. The Clann leaders were holding some of these maps as they considered their battle tactics. Yuugi caught a glimpse of one map; it showed a grassy plain scarred with pits and trenches, with the occasional tree scattered about. Before he could take a closer look, one of the Clanners sharply ordered the slaves into line, and he was forced to move back.

The Chieftenns folded up the maps and put them back in their cases, retrieving something else instead. As he stood at the head of the force holding it out, Yuugi recognized it. Suddenly, he understood.

It was a Gating Device.

This room held maps of battle sites in other Worlds, and the Gaters necessary to reach the battles. A force would enter the room, look through the maps for a last-minute check of tactics, and then travel to the site of the battle. The generals of the Chaos Army sent battle locations and primary objectives to the various Chaos fortresses and military bases, where the commanding officers stationed there could handle the details.

The Overlord was ingeniously directing his war in spite of being trapped outside the Multiverse.

The Chieftenns activated their Gaters, opening large portal gates. The Clanns filed through, vanishing one by one into another World where they would begin the assault. The slaves followed, being handed equipment to carry as they left. A Chaos soldier shoved a pack into Yuugi's hands and pushed him through the Gate. Yuugi had just enough time to glance at it and see that it contained bandages and antiseptics before he entered the Gate and left Dark World, knowing that he might never return.

-o-o-o-o-o-

It was raining.

The cool water poured down on their faces, blurring their vision and making their feet slip in the mud. It had been raining for hours, and would probably continue throughout the night.

The rain would make it hard to see. They must remain alert to survive.

Darkness had fallen swiftly, engulfing them all in inky blackness as they stared ahead through the curtains of water, crouching in the trenches, tense and ready for battle.

They were coming!

They must be defeated. If not, no one would be left to warn their people. There would be no reinforcements, no preparations for a full assault. If a full assault was what they were planning. If they were going to return at all after this night.

Beside the shivering humans stood those who felt no cold from the rain, saw better in darkness than in light. The ghostly, flickering lights of their bodies were the only illumination, shining blue-white in the darkness. The small band of elementalists had eked out an existence on these sparsely inhabited rolling hills several miles from the city; their water elemental companions had joined them in a peaceful coexistence that most humans of this World would have deemed impossible.

The water elementals were also nervous and fearful this night. It was well known that magic users numbered among the enemy's troops, and magic was far deadlier to an elemental than a blade. The rain was good for them; they could control water, could bend it to their will. They would need all the help they could get this night.

The Chaos Army was approaching!

-o-o-o-o-o-

"What shall our plan of attack be, commander?" whispered one of the Clanner scouts. He had forged ahead, moving silently through the brush and long, thick grasses to find and report back the enemy positions.

The commander stood, stoically ignoring the frigid rain as she considered. The Clanners were stubborn about showing weakness as a general rule; for the commander of the group, it was essential. It would never do for her to lose her composure and dishearten her people.

"We will make an entrenchment here, just below this rise--order the...others...to place the stakes," the commander began; she could not bear to refer aloud to the slaves of the Chaos Army, knowing the shame of depending on outsiders--especially children--to aid the Clann.

"The enemy is few in number; it will be best to surround them. Split the troops in three. Keep one group here to man the fortifications. Then, send one group to confront the enemy directly, but be sure that our forces are less in number than theirs. They will grow overconfident and attack. The third group will be ready to move in behind them and trap them. Then we will finish them."

The commander could not keep a look of disgust from passing over her chiseled features. The shame it would bring to her Clann, to attack an enemy outnumbered and surrounded in the dark! They had become like the feeble humans of their World, without the honor of the Clanns. But in order to survive in these dark times, it must be done.

"For my people, I will sacrifice all that I am," she whispered firmly. "My honor, my life, my heart--even my soul." She sighed softly, thinking of her people dying of disease and starvation in their own homeland, driven almost to extinction by a combination of poor conditions and constant attacks. Her people were plains dwellers, living closer to the human civilizations than other Clanns, so they were a constant thorn in the humans' sides.

The commander inwardly shook herself, clearing such thoughts from her mind. A battle was no place for introspection, even if it was a battle of shame, of dishonor.

"We attack on my signal. Go!"

-o-o-o-o-o-

Skitter mewled softly, shivering even with her patchy fur. She hated battle days. Every time they had to go to the room with the steel doors and the bright-doors-to-other-Worlds, it made her feel sick inside. Everywhere they went, there was blood and dark and death until she wanted to throw up from the bad feeling inside her.

But like the other slaves, Skitter had grown accustomed to the life inflicted upon her by the Chaos Army. She suppressed the wobbly feeling in her stomach and the achy feeling in her heart, ready to once again go to a strange place and follow directions she didn't understand so that people she didn't like could kill people she didn't know, for reasons she didn't _want_ to know.

Skitter shivered again; this time, it had nothing to do with the cold. She wanted very much to ask Scat what was going on, but Skitter knew that would get them into trouble. She consoled herself by standing as close to Scat as possible.

Yuugi stood on Scat's other side, but he wasn't paying much attention to the soon-to-be-battlefield. His thoughts were far away, with his friends back home. Yuugi didn't want to think about what was happening; it was too horrible to confront.

_I hope they're all right...Grandpa must be worried...Joey's probably mad that I went off without the gang. But Tristan will calm him down...Tea will be worried too, but she'll keep a cool head...but there's nothing they can do now..._

Yuugi sighed, tearing his thoughts away from his friends. He had to focus on staying alive for now; his friends were far away, and he was facing death alone.

One of the Clanners was approaching. She surveyed the field as she walked, brushing water out of her close-cropped hair. Reaching the slaves, she dropped several bundles in front of them.

"Ready the fortifications. The leader has declared the plan of attack; you will place the stakes as I direct you. Then, you will be assigned and wait for further orders."

To help alleviate the shame of having outsiders do the work of the Clann, the Clanners often treated the slaves like one more unit of troops, receiving orders and following them like everyone else. This was fine with division 24; plenty of commanders preferred to give them orders with the lash.

Picking up the bundles, the slaves trudged off. Yuugi examined the contents--sturdy wooden stakes with sharpened, steel-shod tips. They would easily stop a force of charging enemies from reaching the Clanners.

Reaching the gently sloping hill, division 24 undid the wraps on the stakes and began placing them, digging slots for the stakes to be placed in so they would remain sturdy even against an assault. Yuugi helped Scat shove one of the stakes into the ground, thankful that at least it didn't give him splinters. The footing was slippery from the rain, and they struggled to keep from sliding down into the trench. Finally, coated in mud and rain, the exhausted group stepped back. The crude fortifications were finished.

Setting up the fortifications was thankless work. The commander ordered it more out of habit than anything; it was rare for the enemy to break through the ranks far enough to even encounter the stakes and trench. But going through the motions was important. The Chaos Army, contrary to its name, was actually highly organized, to the point where an outside observer might suggest that so much organization was both redundant and detrimental to getting anything done.

That was exactly the way the Chaos Army liked it. Chaos created by order was the best kind.

The commander surveyed the field once more, checking her forces, making sure everything was in order. She nodded, satisfied. Turning to her aides, she sent them off to inform the leaders of each individual force.

The slaves were also split up; some were sent to carry supplies for the front-line troops, some manned the barricades with the second division, and others (including Yuugi) were sent off on individual assignments.

A stern-faced man gestured impatiently to Yuugi. "You will accompany me. Here; carry this."

He thrust a satchel into Yuugi's arms, then shouldered his own bad and walked off. Yuugi hurried after him, glancing down at the bag he carried. It was full of bandages, bottles of salve, splints, and the like; this man must be a Clanner healer. He would move about the battlefield, offering aid to his allies. Yuugi would have to follow him around carrying extra supplies.

Yuugi didn't mind this task; although being a field medic was dangerous, it was also important. Yuugi saw only good in helping the injured, unlike most of the other tasks the Chaos Army could have assigned him to.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Scat rushed along the trench, stumbling as she struggled to keep her balance in the mud. She set down her crate of ammunition and dashed back for more. Skitter stayed at her side, shivering; she was unable to lift boxes, but she was too frightened to leave Scat's side.

One of the Clanners looked disgustedly at the boxes Scat had set down, then at his weapon. He held a rifle in his hands, issued by the Chaos Army. The forces of Chaos had found that despite all their magic and sophisticated technology, one of the most efficient ways to kill someone was with a spray of bullets. It was hard to survive after having one's torso ripped apart by a powerful firearm.

To use such a weapon against an enemy armed with knives and sticks was to be a coward.

The Clanners had increasingly discovered that surviving as a people meant living in shame. To preserve their way of life and the lives of their children, however, they accepted their fate with stoic composure. The Clanner grimaced, but began loading the rifle.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The commander of the elementalists peered uncertainly through the curtains of rain. The storm was getting worse; soon it would be directly over them. They must finish the battle quickly, before their opponents could gain the upper hand with their superior numbers.

The elementals had reported that the enemy seemed to be attempting a flanking maneuver. Without any way to gain a terrain advantage, the elementalists must attempt to crush the foe with a single, decisive strike.

"Get into position, everyone. Prepare to charge!"

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Commander, they have gone mad--they prepare to charge!"

The Clanner commander surveyed the field dispassionately. She stood at the front line, ready to attack with her troops. The plan of battle dissatisfied her; there was no glory in such a strategy. All the reports of her scouts, all of the planning and activity, had no more taste than if she had swallowed ash. At this report, however, she turned to the scout, her face alight.

"Truly, they are a people of honor. Rather than flee or allow themselves to be trapped in a corner like rats in a hole, they attack us head-on, knowing that they have almost no chance of victory. To find such a foe, when all I could have expected was shame...there is nothing higher."

The commander unsheathed her sword, raising it in the air as she called to her troops. "Come--we go to meet them! As they have wagered their lives on this assault, so shall we! The battle shall be decided by this attack!"

The plan was abandoned; none of the Clanners questioned it. Like their captain, they were only too happy to fight the foe head-on, with no further sneaking about. They ran forward eagerly, following the commander they loved and respected. If they could not die for their own cause, they would at least die on their own terms.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Quickly--follow me."

Yuugi hurried after the Clanner healer, barely able to see between the driving rain and the rapidly falling twilight. All around them, people were fighting, screaming, dying. In the midst of battle, it was difficult to tell one side from the other; in the end, most of them would be lifeless bodies sprawled in the mud.

"Hand me those bandages," the man said, kneeling beside a blood-covered body. The injured Clanner stirred, groaning in pain. A broken sword blade was embedded in his side. The Clanner choked, blood spewing forth from his mouth.

"Time is passing, child."

Yuugi shook himself, and began handing the healer various things from the pack he was carrying. Watching anyone, even someone who was almost an enemy, lying in a pool of their own blood was sickening. A good healer learns to suppress their normal, shocked reaction to such things, but Yuugi wasn't trained to do so. He'd seen plenty of people die, but it wasn't something that one got used to.

"Can you speak? Can you hear me?"

The healer checked the other Clanner's pulse; he tried to speak, blood choking him. The healer watched dispassionately.

"This one is too far gone; come."

Yuugi nearly dropped the pack in shock. This man was a healer--how could he just give up like that? They were on the same side, they were comrades...and now one was leaving the other to die.

"But...he's going to die!"

The Clanner turned to look at Yuugi coldly. "Yes, he is; there is nothing I can do to prevent it. If I waste time trying to save him, others will die. I will fulfill my duty. His life is of no consequence in comparison to the greater good of the Clann. He would agree. Now follow me."

The healer strode off again, dodging around battling Clanners and elementalists, avoiding magical blasts from the elementals, keeping an eye out for any injured Clanners.

"Wait--what about them?" Yuugi asked, pointing to a pair of bodies contorted in pain.

The healer looked at them for a moment, then shook his head. "They are not Clann. They are the enemy."

"But--they're injured! You're a _healer_!"

"I am a Clanner. My first duty is to my people. These strangers, other Chaos troops--they mean nothing to me."

Yuugi opened his mouth to argue with the healer, furious, but the Clanner, seeing that Yuugi wasn't following him, grabbed his wrist and dragged him forward. Yuugi shut his mouth. There was no point.

Then, to Yuugi's surprise, his arm was released. The Clanner quickly drew a blade from beneath his cloak, turning to face one of the elementalists. The enemy had spotted him and immediately leapt to the attack, but the healer was prepared. It is not uncommon for Clanners to be trained as both healers and warriors, just in case.

The Clanner was well-trained, but the elementalist had the advantage of surprise, and the strength of desperation. He struck wildly, ignoring injuries and relentlessly attacking. Then, with a skillful twist of his blade, he knocked the Clanner's weapon out of his hand. He quickly followed this with a sharp thrust, driving his blade into the healer's torso. The Clanner managed to lessen the blow by turning aside at the last moment, but he slipped and fell. The elementalist, thinking he had slain his foe, moved on.

Yuugi crouched next to the fallen Clanner; he was still breathing. But Yuugi didn't know how to help him. He had no training, no experience--for all he knew, he could make the injury worse.

_What do I do? I can't do this! I'm not like Joey and Tristan, I can't fight! Whenever we were in trouble before, we got through it because we were together...but now I'm all alone. I can't do this alone! This man is going to die because _I can't help him_, he's going to die and it's my fault...but what can I do? My friends are gone...I'm really...on my own..._

The Clanner tried to get up, but collapsed again with a cry of pain. He pressed a hand to his side, trying to stem the flow of blood, but there was nothing he could do. He was bleeding to death, and there was no way for him to stop it.

_No...I can't give up now. There are people who need my help--I have to do something! I may be alone...but I can do this. I can't always rely on my friends for help. I have to be strong enough...to do this alone._

Yuugi looked at the Clanner's injury. It didn't look too deep...he just needed to stop the bleeding. He sorted through the pack he had somehow managed to hang on to, taking out some bandages.

_Let's see...I've seen people do this before, I can do it too...it's not that hard..._

Taking a deep breath, Yuugi started bandaging the Clanner's injury. It was difficult to see what he was doing through the rain and the cover of night, but he refused to give in and let the man bleed to death when he could do something to help.

The Clanner was at the point of passing out. Through a haze of pain, he wondered in amazement why a human would help a Clanner. As he sank into oblivion, a last vague thought passed through his mind...

_Could he be...the one?_

-o-o-o-o-o-

A lone candle guttered on the desk, casting hideously twisted shadows across the bare walls. The room's occupant ignored them; he was working.

He didn't have to use a candle. Every room in the base was equipped with electrical lights. It was irrelevant in any case. His kind saw best at night...

It wasn't really his desk. He was only staying at the base temporarily, and had been assigned this room. It was sparsely furnished; the walls, floor, and desk were all made of the same durable steel as the rest of the base. It was vaguely unsettling to see his distorted reflection wherever he looked.

He did not mind the stark, cold room. The emptiness inside it reflected the emptiness he felt inside himself. That hole was filled by the orders of his master. The orders of the Overlord.

The Lieutenant sighed, sitting back in his steel chair. He idly considered changing the base regulations to make sure there was some furniture of a different material. At the very least, it would help the monotony.

He shook his head, trying to focus on his task. The Lieutenant was tired; he had been traveling from base to base for some weeks now, inspecting and making sure all was in order. It was necessary but tedious work, and he had little time to rest. The inspections had become almost automatic to him, but this time...

Gash turned the object over in his hands, feeling the cold metal surface. It was not quite smooth; the strange thing was covered with faint seams, detectable only with a careful examination. It was the only point of color in the room, gleaming brightly in comparison to the desk, walls, and floor, although it could not bring color to the Lieutenant's pallid face.

The Lieutenant's thin, white finger traced over the design on the front--a highly stylized eye. What was it called? The Eye of Someone...Horace? Horiss? It was the only decoration on the golden pyramid.

According to the aide who had delivered it into his hands, it had been taken from a captive. The Lieutenant hadn't asked which one. He didn't need the aide to tell him _that_.

The Lieutenant sighed again, setting the Millennium Puzzle down on the desk. He should rest; he would be busy tomorrow, continuing the inspection. He still wasn't used to sleeping during the night...

He would tour the outside of the base tomorrow, inspecting the fortifications and the rotations of the various guards and scout patrols. Gash wasn't looking forward to it; he felt uncomfortable so close to the sea. No one in their right mind would build anything so close to the water's edge. To step off that edge was like walking off a cliff: there was only one way it could end.

The Lieutenant stood up, drawing his black cape around him. He would rest now. He would rest, and stop thinking about this. He would rest, and this pointless question would stop repeating itself inside his head. He would rest...

The Lieutenant lay down on the wall shelf that served as the room's bed. He didn't bother to put out the candle; the light made sleep seem more natural. Sleeping during the hours of darkness...a ridiculous notion.

Of course, in fallen Akarana, most of the hours were dark.

The Lieutenant closed his eyes, steadying his breathing. He was an experienced campaigner, able to sleep whenever and wherever necessary. With the ease of long practice, he shut out all distractions, all noises, all thoughts.

As he fell rapidly into slumber, a last thought remained, having stubbornly resisted banishment. It echoed in his mind as he slipped into unconsciousness.

_Why...?_


	12. Ana Srin

Chapter 12--Ana-Srin

_He was hungry._

_This was not unusual; there would never, could never, be enough food on the edge of the Plains of Shadow to feed the small outpost. The group lived there for that very reason--there was no competition. No sane person would choose to live there. Except for them._

_Few animals lived here on the edge of the plains; the border between the ocean of grass and the barren, rocky lands they lived on was home to nothing. There was no niche for a living creature to fill. They were forced to travel daily, hunting for food._

_They defined "food" very loosely._

_They could have chosen a more fertile area to live. They could have chosen a more populous area to live. They could have chosen not to live. They had unlimited choices, but they took only one. This was their choice; they felt no self-pity because of its difficulty. They would live because they were too stubborn to die. They would live because to die now would be to admit defeat._

_They would live._

_-o-o-o-o-o-_

_He glanced at his companion out of the corner of his eye._

_The other had come to them only recently. He had staggered out of the Plains of Shadow, starving and bleeding from countless wounds. A mere human would have died long ago, but his will was too strong to admit defeat. Even in his condition, he was fighting to survive and nearly winning. They had taken him in, fed him, cared for his wounds. The crude outpost at the edge of the Plains of Shadow was far from the cutting edge of medical technology, but bandages and hot water were better than nothing. He would live; he was one of their people. He would not allow himself to die._

_He had agreed to join them for a while, to work with them for their mutual benefit. It was always that way; the group was bound by necessity, not love. They needed each other to survive. Members would come, stay for a while, then vanish into the mist one night when they were ready to move on. It was dangerous to get too close to anyone; there were no constants in their lives. Attachment would only bring pain._

_Still, he could not help but be curious about this one. There was something about him...something different from anyone else he had ever met. He might have used the word charisma, had he known it; but even charisma did not describe this stranger's presence. He was...a leader. Someone others looked to for direction, for stability, for certainty. Someone others felt they could trust, felt they could rely on. They had known he was special when he had the strength to look them in the eyes without fear even as he collapsed at their feet._

_It didn't matter. For them, others were unimportant. He was a stranger, therefore his life was of no consequence. This was their way. This was the way they survived. And yet..._

_Looking into the stranger's haunted grey eyes, he could not help but wonder where he had come from, and how he had acquired the strange, almost tattoo-like scar on his arm._

Yuugi sat up, rubbing his eyes. He tried to remember his strange dream...in the dream, he had been looking at someone--someone with a familiar face...

"C'mon--we've got work to do," said Scat, standing with her hands on her hips and looking at Yuugi in perplexity. She moved to the door with Skitter at her heels like a devoted pet. They headed out to start their assigned tasks.

"Let's see...looks like we're...ah, hauling supplies for division 03 again...great..."

"Not _again_..." muttered Frac. Brell, standing next to him, sighed gloomily.

"Wait--why am I over there?" Yuugi asked, pointing to the notice board. His number was printed under division 14.

Scat frowned slowly. "14 is messengers, assistants, that sort of thing...we don't usually get assigned there...I wonder why you're on that crew?"

Yuugi shook his head. Whatever the reason was, he was willing to bet it wasn't good.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Chieftenn, with all due respect, I'm _sure_! More than sure--I'd bet my life on it, my honor, anything! It is him, and as long as he is here, he is in danger, the cause is in danger! We must _act_!"

The Chieftenn rubbed his temples, gazing in a mixture of frustration and sympathy at the woman before him. He agreed with her position, he agreed with her plan, he agreed with everything...except for one point.

It was too risky.

He despised himself for thinking it, for having to think it. He hated the knowledge that he had to be cautious, to hold back, to act, as he thought, like a coward. He was Chieftenn of a mighty Clann, and he did not like this new way. But if any were to survive...

"Rasuro, believe me, I see your position and _I agree_. It is simply that we cannot act yet--not while _he_ is here, not while _he_ is watching. If _he_ finds us...it is all over. You know his reputation. We...would be hunted down like dogs. We must not risk the cause."

Rasuro trembled with impotent rage, knowing and hating that he was right. "Chieftenn...give me permission, at least, to speak to him. Let me at least tell him that we are here, that we are fighting! We must tell them that not all the Clanns have gone to the Overlord...that some still resist."

The Chieftenn bowed his head. It was for him to decide, for him to lay this doom or this salvation on his people. At last, he nodded his assent.

Rasuro bowed and left at once. She had much to prepare.

Yuugi walked slowly through the confusing maze of corridors, feeling on the verge of exhaustion. Lack of sleep and food made all of the Chaos slaves weak, and Yuugi was still adjusting. His own dim reflection, twisted and distorted, stared back at him from the metal walls, and his footsteps seemed magnified impossibly loud.

"Oh no…where am I _now_?"

The corridor had ended abruptly in a small hall with several rooms branching off of it. Most of their doors were ajar, and they were devoid of life—more cold metal, with the occasional furnishing (metal, of course) were their only contents.

One door, however, showed a faint light behind it, flickering slightly. A candle, perhaps…and was that a voice coming from it? A strangely familiar voice…

Yuugi hesitated a moment, knowing that he might well be risking his life. But he couldn't restrain his curiosity.

He crept toward the door to eavesdrop on Lieutenant Gash's conversation.

The Lieutenant was, strangely enough, speaking into a bowl of some translucent black liquid on a desk in front of him. Yuugi saw no other occupants in the room; what on earth was he doing?

"The search is progressing, but as you know resources are limited. We cannot spare too many troops to find it, and even if we could it would be inadvisable. We must maintain secrecy or the integrity of the mission will be compromised."

There was a pause, then to Yuugi's shock, the voice of the Chaos Oracle came forth from the bowl, echoing slightly as though the demon was in a tunnel.

"As you reported at our last meeting. Our master grows tired of waiting, Lieutenant. The search is _your_ responsibility, and we must find it soon. Who knows what hands it might fall into, if not ours?"

The Lieutenant rubbed his temples. It struck Yuugi that Gash looked…tired. Worn out. Haggard. He looked almost _old_.

_He's worried_, Yuugi thought to himself. _It's not fear—he has complete confidence in what he does, he's chosen this and he lives without regrets, but now he's doubting himself, and that's the thing he fears most…_

Yuugi started; what had made him think that? He had no way of knowing what Gash's personal feelings about his job were. But somehow…he was certain he was right—he would have bet his life on it.

"Lieutenant, I grow concerned at your lack of progress. Could it be…that you are not _motivated_ enough? Could it be, perhaps, that you have…other commitments? Other loyalties?"

Gash scowled, though the Oracle could not see him. "We have discussed this matter before. If you continue to question my loyalty, I cannot, in honor, fail to respond. Do not tempt me."

The Oracle's weird, mocking shriek of laughter rose from the bowl. "_Honor_? A worm has more honor than you, because a worm only obeys his nature. Your nature is a nest of lies. But you have your uses."

The Lieutenant's eyes narrowed. "Oracle…I could say much the same about you. About anyone in this army. We are the forces of chaos. What loyalty in anarchy? And it is no matter. I do what I say I will do, and I succeed in it."

Yuugi edged closer to the crack of the barely-open door, leaning forward to see better. A wave of sympathy for the Lieutenant washed over him; it seemed that Gash, who valued his honor above all else, was branded as untrustworthy.

_I wonder why…? He may be trying to kill me, but whenever we've faced him, he's always come straight at us—he's never tried to trick us or trap us. Why should the Oracle question his honor?_

Lost in thought, Yuugi absently leaned on the edge of the door—and it slipped forward, slamming into a large easel Gash had been drawing up battle plans on. Heart racing, Yuugi ducked back and pressed himself against the wall. There was nowhere to run, no way to avoid notice…

"Hm? What was that, Lieutenant? This meeting is confidential. _No one_ may hear of this!"

The Lieutenant turned to examine the door. Yuugi held his breath and pulled even further into the shadows of the next room's doorway, not daring to duck inside lest the Lieutenant notice the movement. The Lieutenant turned this way and that, looking around…he was turning towards Yuugi…but Yuugi was relieved to see that the Lieutenant's eyes missed him as they swept the hall. He breathed a very quiet sigh of relief as the Lieutenant returned to his chamber.

To Yuugi's surprise, Gash did not close the door. Shaking with terror at his own foolish daring, he crept back to the door and listened.

"A messenger has come to deliver something—I must go. We have said all that needs to be said. The search will continue. I _will_ find it, our Lord may rest assured. It is nothing to _you_, however. Keep your filth-stained claws out of my affairs."

"I will pry into whatever I please, Lieutenant—and I have every reason to keep an eye on you. As for the messenger…you know the regulations. No one may know what we have been speaking of. You must—"

"I know the regulations and am perfectly capable of carrying them out," Gash replied coldly.

With that, the Lieutenant thrust a small golden rod into the bowl, disrupting whatever spell was making it function. He seemed about to turn towards the door again, and Yuugi prepared to hide, but the Lieutenant turned away towards the wall.

"There is no need to waste an able soldier. I have not seen you; therefore, you need not die. There is no certain proof that you were or were not here. You were not present earlier, I am sure of it; and you have heard nothing of importance. Whatever message you have for me can wait until there is no need for me to find you guilty of spying, which regulations demand. Now leave this place, and go about your business."

The Lieutenant had mistaken him for one of the Chaos Army…! Yuugi, amazed at his good fortune, ran off at once. Back in his chamber, the Lieutenant remained standing at his desk, his hands clenched on the back of his chair.

"What am I doing? Am I going mad? Or…am I becoming sane again…?"

He sighed wearily and left the room to continue his inspection. He would not try to answer his own question. He didn't want to know, because if he did know…

He wouldn't know what to believe in anymore.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Yuugi hurried along the corridor again, trying to keep to the right direction this time. He was already late in delivering his message…there was certain to be trouble. He swallowed nervously, wondering what would happen to him. Scat had told him a number of horrible stories about her own "punishments" for various minor infractions, and he didn't care to experience any of them for himself.

"Ah…here it is!"

Yuugi opened a steel door into a different section of the base…and was shocked to find himself surrounded by _stone_ walls, with tapestries hung on them, and a rug beneath his feet. He wondered vaguely if he might have somehow left the Chaos fortress entirely.

But no—there was a Chaos troop now, a strange-looking creature with taut gray skin, snake-like fangs, and large, pale eyes; Yuugi thought it looked like one of those fish from nature films about sealife at the bottom of the ocean. Spotting him, it walked over, its stride awkward. Its knee joints weren't placed for walking on the flat, smooth floor, it seemed.

"Kssss…what are you doing, sssslave? It makessss this one wonder, yesss it does! You should not—ksss—be here…this is the Clanner'sss domain…kssss, kssss, cursssse them! You are…tresssspassing!"

"No, I have a message—" Yuugi started to say, holding up the scroll in his hand, but his words were choked off in a shout of pain as the creature leaped at him, a wild gleam in its bulbous eyes, and sank its fangs into his shin.

"Ah…marrow, marrow and blood, kssss, ksss!"

"Leave me alone!" Yuugi struck it in the back of its neck as hard as he could, but the angle he was at took most of the force out of the blow. The creature slammed a webbed fist into his stomach, and Yuugi collapsed as the air left his lungs.

"Ksss…it isss good…prey cannot sssstruggle now…!"

The only good thing was that the pain was so intense, it was almost beyond feeling anything. Yuugi thought he might pass out. This creature was strong for its size, and it was easily larger than him anyway.

_Am I going to die…?_

"Ksss…it will be tasssty…"

_No…NO…I won't die—not here, not like this!_

Yuugi kicked out as hard as he could at its face, and it fell back, burbling in pain and shock. But the blow was costly—white-hot pain shot through Yuugi's legs. He saw to his horror that one of his bones—_the femur_, he thought idiotically, stupefied by the pain—was protruding through the skin.

_This is it, I'm dead, there's no way I'll live through a wound like that! _Blood was already pumping out onto the floor. He was going to die here, far from his home in this horrible spic-and-span hell, in this steel and stone nightmare…

"What's going on here?"

Just what he needed…_another_ Chaos soldier. But it wouldn't matter soon…things were starting to go black.

"Damn you, Grisshk—what have you done?"

Rasuro struck Grisshk over the head with the hilt of her rapier, knocking him unconscious. Almost sick with fear, she ran to Yuugi's side and took a deep breath. There was no other way…

Rasuro was a warrior. She had seen men's blood and guts spread out on the battlefield before. And so without flinching, she pressed the femur back into place and focused on her inner light—the unseen flame of her magic.

A soft white light shone, and slowly, the terrible hole began to close. The bone began to knit, the deep gashes left by Grisshk's fangs scabbed over and then formed scar tissue. Yuugi's breathing steadied; the pain was receding.

Rasuro was only a novice healer—her Clann felt that a warrior's place was in battle, to live or to die by their skill with a blade, not to be coddled by the knowledge that a healer was ever

at hand. But Rasuro had the healing talent, and so she had received minimal training. It was enough to save Yuugi from bleeding to death, enough to keep him from being maimed, but not enough to restore the injuries completely. Scars would remain.

This was nothing to Rasuro—in her Clann, a scar was a badge of honor.

Yuugi's eyes snapped open. The pain was gone, he could move again—he scrambled to his feet, wincing slightly as he put weight on the newly healed bone. He stared at Rasuro in wary surprise, but before he could ask her why she had helped him, she bowed courteously.

"You have recovered? It is good—my healing skill is small. I thought it might not be enough…but that is past. What were you _doing_, you imbecile?"

"I…" Yuugi had no words. He was completely taken aback by Rasuro's sudden appearance and help. He studied the Clanner closely; her tattoos were unfamiliar to him. Crossed blades were tattooed on her forehead, and on one cheek was a stylized claw.

"Come with me—quickly," Rasuro said, glancing about to make sure no one could see or hear them. She grasped Yuugi's wrist and pulled him after her down the hall and into a small chamber. She slammed the door and bolted it fast.

"You idiot—you could have been killed! You need to be more careful!" she shouted, rounding on Yuugi.

Yuugi stood staring at her, nonplussed. "But you're…one of the Chaos Army…"

A shadow passed over Rasuro's face. "I am loyal to my Chieftenn and to my Clann—no other. The Overlord is my foe, but to survive as a people…we must join his army. It is…the greatest shame for our people."

Rasuro sat down on the simple wooden bunk that served as her bed, gesturing for Yuugi to sit beside her. "Do you understand? We do not side with the Overlord out of choice. We dishonor ourselves because we see that our deaths, however honorable, will serve no one. It would be…selfish."

"I don't mean to be rude, but…doesn't serving the Overlord not serve your cause either?" Yuugi said cautiously. He didn't want to offend this woman; he sympathized with her. She and her people were forced to make a difficult decision, and it seemed that every possible choice was the wrong one.

Rasuro shook her head. "No—we do not serve the Overlord. I and many of my Clann have joined the Ana-srin."

The term sounded familiar to Yuugi…_whatever you do, the Ana-srin are with you_. The Clanners who had fought with them after they found the Key had said that to him.

"What are the Ana-srin?"

"Not what, but who. The Ana-srin are Clanners who have not sided with the Overlord. All of my Clann are members, although some Clanns have only a few dissenters in the Ana-srin. We oppose the Chaos Army from within, acting as spies, disrupting the work as best we can…it carries great risk, and we can do little, but…we must do what we can."

A smile slowly spread across Yuugi's face. "Then…not all the Clanners with the Overlord are our enemies! We thought there were so many with the Overlord…this is great! We're not fighting alone anymore…"

Rasuro regarded Yuugi intently. "You know why I am telling you this, don't you?"

"Er…because we're on the same side?" Yuugi suggested tentatively.

Rasuro shook her head. "Because you are the one the Overlord fears…the one he would give anything to find, to destroy. We may not know why he fears you so, but if he does, then we must make sure that you remain alive and free. It is the best way to thwart his plans, because your capture seems to be one of his primary goals. There is little I can do to help you escape from here, it is too risky, but…"

Rasure hesitated. She hated herself for what she was about to say, for being helpless, but…there was no other way. "We…cannot help you. We cannot give ourselves away. You must find a way out of here on your own--you must live, whatever happens. If the Overlord captures you, he will have achieved his goal, and that is what we risk our lives to prevent. So…you must go free. You must go back to your people and tell them that we are fighting, that we have not all gone over to the Overlord's side. You must tell them…please."

Yuugi looked at Rasuro's stern face, her clenched fists. _She's giving everything—her honor, her home, maybe even her life—to stop the Overlord…she feels ashamed of herself and her Clann for what they're doing, but she knows it's the only thing they _can_ do, and she feels trapped. And…guilt. She feels she's betraying her people…because…the Clanners are siding with humans and Darklings to stop the Overlord._

Yuugi felt for her, even as he wondered what made him think that at all. A no-win situation…truly, they were between a sword and the ground.

"I…I'll do it. I'll find a way out, and I'll tell them…I'll tell them that you're still fighting. That we're not alone."

Rasuro nodded, and for the first time, a faint smile crossed her lips. "…thank you. Now, you must return—they will be suspicious if you are gone too long, they were already so when I asked that you deliver a message to me, but there was no other way for me to talk to you…"

"Oh yeah—I have it here," Yuugi said, pulling out the slightly bloodstained scroll. Rasuro smiled more widely and unrolled it, showing him a page covered in Clanner script. "It's an old children's rhyme—I just needed something to put on the page in case they asked to see it, most of the Army cannot read Clanner script. But thank you anyway, little messenger. You are very lucky—this message almost cost you your life. Now go, quickly. I will remain here."

Yuugi nodded and went to the door. Peering out, he was relieved to see that Grisshk was gone. Before he started off for division 24's dank cell, he turned back.

"...we'll win. Maybe I don't know how, but…we will."

Rasuro shrugged. "Perhaps. Then again, perhaps not. Only time will tell."

"No."

Rasuro looked up, surprised. She had not expected such determination from a human. "And why is that, child?"

Yuugi gazed calmly back at her. "If we lose, it's the end—of everything. We'll win...because there's no other option. We must."

Rasuro frowned, disconcerted. Then, to Yuugi's surprise, she laughed. "When you say that, child, almost I can believe there is yet hope."

Yuugi turned and walked back down the Clanner's hallway, back into the endless monotony of the Chaos fortress, back down the cold, silent halls. He went back to the cell division 24 lived in when off duty. The other slaves greeted him dully, exhausted from their day's work.

Yuugi curled up in a corner, shivering. As he fell asleep, he thought of his friends, far away. Did they have any idea what had happened to him? Were they worried?

_They must be looking for me…I know they would. We've never abandoned each other, and we never will._

"I'll get out," he whispered. "I'll get out, and get home, and together, we'll find a way to stop this…we'll find a way. There's no way we'll give in…never!"

And with that, he fell asleep.

-o-o-o-o-o-

_A worm has more honor than you._

Gash sat at his desk, the Millennium Puzzle lying in one corner. He had intended to study it further, but he couldn't concentrate.

_A worm only obeys its nature. Your nature is a nest of lies._

Scowling, he rose and began to pace the small chamber. Honor…what did honor mean to him?

"I sacrificed my honor for the sake of my goals long ago," he whispered bitterly. "And what does honor matter to me if am successful? Who is there left to care for my honor but me? There is no one worthy of honorable behavior in this den of serpents…"

A face flickered in his memory, a face that smiled too much, that laughed too often. An idiotic face, a face of foolish optimism.

The face of a man worthy of honor.

_"Are you confident or merely a fool?"" Gash asked, raising an eyebrow at the crouched form before him. The other man was examining a set of tracks, fairly recent._

_Gash was inclined to say fool. What kind of idiot asks a near-stranger to hold their only weapon for them while they kneel in the dirt and scrutinize the ground—leaving themselves open to attack all the while?_

_The man shrugged. "You're on alert. Why should I be worried?" He laughed, a strange, jarring sound in this bleak landscape._

_Gash scowled. That laugh…! It was worse than the smile, if anything. He had never met someone who acted so strangely. One would almost think he was _human

_"We have only known each other a few months. We are almost strangers." It was shocking how trusting this man was. He had faith in Gash to an almost suicidal degree._

_Gash knew the man was smiling, although he couldn't see his face. It irritated him anyway. "Strangers? I'm hurt, sa-chan."_

_"We two are wanderers; our lands are as distant from each other as the stars. Don't be so familiar with me."_

_He waved his hands placatingly. "As you like, of course...but I trust you, ka-san."_

_"What fool trusts someone they barely know?" Gash said bluntly, his lip curling in disgust—an uncharacteristic display of emotion. This idiot was getting to him…  
He stood, brushing himself off. "They're still traveling toward the Plains…these tracks are a few days old, perhaps. But we may yet catch them."_

_"Answer me."_

_He turned, that idiotic smile on his face. He was so...so naïve, so ridiculously incautious! "Forgive me; I didn't realize it was a question. I was under the impression that you were simply mocking me." And his eyes took on a sharper, more penetrating look, a look that made Gash uneasy. It gave him the impression that this man could see through him, within him. It made him look much less like a trusting, gullible idiot and more like the shrewd warrior Gash knew he was._

_Or at least, thought he was. Gash had seen him fight, seen his skill, he knew that kind of skill was achieved through years of experience, and yet…sometimes he could be so disarmingly foolish._

_"Is there a reason? Just tell me that."_

_"A reason for what?"  
"For why you act like an idiot—like you know nothing," Gash snapped, finally losing his temper. He was normally an extremely controlled, reserved person, but this man was getting to him._

_He shrugged. "I _act_ like nothing—I am myself. But as for why I trust you…anyone would. You would never take advantage of a turned back, even an enemy's. You would never betray your companions or use deception to gain an advantage. It is not your way, and so I can trust you."_

_"You do not know me. What makes you so certain?" Gash said coldly._

_He laughed again, and his face was once more benign, yet maddeningly unreadable. "Because, ka-san…you are a man of honor." _

Gash sank onto his sleeping shelf, his head in hands. "You could always read people. It was what made you so skilled a warrior—you could predict an opponent's attacks, knew what he would do and when, knew how to counter him. I have rarely seen you mistake a person's character and motives. You only looked simple on the surface…underneath, you were too complex to be fathomed."

He sighed and lay back, shrouding himself once more in his cape. He must rest; it was useless to brood like this. An utterly inefficient use of time. Above all, Gash was pragmatic.

As his eyes closed, he sighed in bitter frustration.

"But in the end, you were wrong about me."


	13. Rebellion

Chapter 13—Rebellion

_They were visiting the village today, stealing supplies. It was risky, but to avoid the risk was certain death; drought had struck the plains, and they must have food and water. The villagers were also affected, would be guarding their stores, but…it would work. It must work._

_"Come—it isn't much farther. It is day, they will be asleep…they will not notice us."_

_He nodded; Zhan was right. That was what they called him, Zhan—he hadn't told them his _name_, of course. No one would be so foolish. He had only been with them for a year—they were almost strangers. It was too early for anything but second names._

_The two were hiding in a rocky outcropping at the edge of the village. The bleak sun beat down on them; he was too hot, even if the shade of the rocks. He longed to rest in the cool darkness of his home, as all sane people were doing at this ridiculously early hour, but the mission was necessary._

_Zhan ran a hand through his dark hair distractedly. He couldn't imagine where Zhan had picked up such a habit—it was almost _human_. But Zhan was like that. His eyes were narrowed now, and that meant Zhan was planning something. Zhan's plans were good—he trusted them, trusted Zhan. They all did. Anyone would, they felt. He exuded an aura of competence, of strength._

_"Let's go, then. It's time."_

_They crept forward slowly, keeping to the brightest parts of the street where they would be harder to see for anyone watching. They moved slowly, silent as ghosts, silent as only their kind could be. He raised his head, sniffing the air; good. No one was about, the air was flat and still. All was silent, their ears were straining for any stray sound that might warn them of an attacker._

_They were at the doors of the storehouse. Zhan studied them carefully, uncertain; he could not pick the locks on the doors. _

_"What should we do?"  
Zhan was silent, considering. "We must break down the door. It will wake the villagers—you go in and steal what we need, I will cover you."_

_Zhan drew his magnificent sword, forged from the shining, silvery metal found only in their World. He held it with the ease of practice, with hands calloused by long training. Zhan grasped the hilt firmly, lining up his blow; he would only get one chance. It would have to be a good one._

_Zhan lunged, his blade's hilt shattered the rusty lock, the door swung free. Turning, he raised his blade to face the villagers as they awoke and came streaming out to stop them._

_He raced inside, confident that Zhan would not be defeated. He had seen Zhan fight—he was the best, no question about it. Grabbing some supplies and shoving them in a sack—precious canteens of water, salvation for the tribe—he dashed out, motioned to Zhan._

_They ran as quickly as they could, reaching the rock outcropping. He set down the sack and pulled out his bow. Zhan was a master of his sword, but he was the best at the bow, everyone agreed. He had made this bow himself from a strong branch after traveling for days to find it, had scrounged wood and flights for the arrows, had made the string from the tendon of some wandering beast. He had even sewn a crude quiver. Now he took aim and fired, sending bolts into the center of their attackers' chests—where the heart was beating, squeezing forward and back as it circulated blood through their bodies._

_They backed off after several of them had fallen, accepting their losses. They were not like humans; they understood the value of holding a position, of keeping what was still within reach rather than striving hopelessly for what was lost. He and Zhan would be fine._

_They waited until the villagers had retreated, vanished from sight. Then they crept forward again, drawing small knives._

_Reaching the corpses of their foes, they knelt, bowing their heads a moment in respect for their foes' skill. Then they raised their blades._

_There would be plenty to eat tonight._

-o-o-o-o-o-

Yuugi sat up, shuddering at the vivid and gruesome dream. He could not understand why he had been dreaming of such a strange assortment of people in such a bizarre place lately. And they were so real—it was almost like living out another person's life. Who _was_ Yuugi in these dreams? He was certain that, whoever's perspective he was seeing from, it wasn't his own. And where _was_ he? And…who was that other person, the one who looked so familiar to Yuugi but whose face, when he woke, he could not seem to remember? He was sure that he had recognized the person each night, only to have it slip from his grasp when he awoke. Now he had been given a name: Zhan. But Yuugi felt sure that wasn't his real name…there was some other name, a name that reminded him of Zhan, but not that…

"I said, come on! We're with 08, we might get to see Mack and Tam…I've been wondering how they're doing."

Yuugi looked up, shaken from his reverie. Scat was gesturing impatiently to him, Skitter supporting her with nods of her furred head. He rose and followed them through the labyrinthine base to another section: an area of the base that had been declared unnecessary and was now being dismantled so the raw materials could be reused in the new area under construction.

The slaves of division 08 were hard at work demolishing the shell of the old structure: a wing of the base, now detached from the main building and reduced to metal girders and concrete blocks. Yuugi saw that both children and adults were at work here. At once, he felt foolish for not realizing before that some of the Chaos slaves must be adults—it would be ridiculous to think the Overlord would capture only children.

But to his surprise, the adult slaves seemed oddly detached and blank. Yuugi could not know that the Overlord was sure to put together only slaves that had no past in common, slaves from areas so disparate they had no chance of a common language or even appearance. The adult slaves, less adaptable than the still-growing children, rarely gave themselves new names; they simply drifted on like warm-blooded zombies.

Chaos Overseers were directing the entire operation, ensuring speed and efficiency, as well as keep an eye on the slaves. It was ironic that only through supreme organization could the Overlord achieve his goal of total Chaos, but he didn't care. For him, the end result was all that mattered.

"Fall in, 24—bring this blasting powder to sector five, by the east wall!"

Yuugi and the others dutifully began hauling crates of grayish-black powder, which Yuugi thought smelled like gunpowder, over to a large fitted masonry wall where a cluster of adult slaves was working. It was the adults who were doing the actual demolishing; the children were doing jobs that required nimble fingers and small, flexible bodies—fitting into narrow ceiling spaces to disassemble wiring, for example. And if someone lost an eye, or a finger, or even a whole hand…the Chaos Army wasn't counting.

Yuugi and Scat carried one of the large crates together; Skitter scampered along in front of them and cleared the path so they wouldn't trip over any debris. They set it down, panting for breath, in front of a tall, tanned man—his tattoos identified him as 113, division 03. He stood vaguely for a moment, seeming totally unconcerned with anything at all, then thanked them and took the powder over to the wall. He began placidly laying it out, preparing to demolish the heavy stone structure.

One of the Overseers, seeing his slow movements, strode over with a whip in hand. "Faster, number 113—we have a schedule to keep!"

He lashed the slave several times. The man fell forward, bleeding, but his expression did not change. He rose to his feet and began setting the powder out once more. The Overseer shook his head in disgust and moved on.

"I hate these Nameless…give me the shivers."

Yuugi couldn't help but agree. These people's hearts were beating, their blood was flowing, but they had all the will of a fresh corpse. They had less 'self' than the Lost. None of them cared about anything at all. Yuugi correctly thought that even if they had been threatened with imminent death, not one would have made an effort to save their own life or the life of anyone else. They simply…existed.

Yuugi hurriedly followed Scat to get another crate, keeping his eyes on the ground. He did not look at the Nameless, as the Chaos Army called them, again. Their fate was too terrible to contemplate.

"Scat," Yuugi whispered furtively as they bent to lift another crate. "I'm getting out of here. I don't care what it takes—I'll get out of here or die trying!"

She stared at him in surprise for a moment, then nodded grimly. "Got a plan yet?"

Yuugi smiled. Now that he had spoken it aloud, escape suddenly seemed much more possible. Against all odds, he felt…hopeful.

"Here's what I was thinking…"

-o-o-o-o-o-

"You're crazy!"

Everyone in division 24 agreed with Brell—Yuugi's plan was crazy. The idea of resisting the Chaos Army was crazy. Even Scat thought it was a stretch—her plans had never gone farther than sneaking away, stealing a Gater.

But rebellion?

"Haven't you seen all the troops here? We wouldn't stand a chance in a fight!" Brell shouted. At his side, Frac nodded agreement, gnawing his lip. The very word 'rebellion' was making him nervous.

But Yuugi's face was set. "I don't care if it's crazy. I don't care if it kills me—it's better than living like this, dying a little more every day, waiting to be killed for my enemy's cause! I'm going to get out of here…and if that's not possible, then at least I'll die fighting the Overlord."

Skitter sat next to Scat, quaking. "Bu…bu…how cou' you do tha'? They ge' you…kill you!"

Scat shook her head. "It just…seems like a big risk. And there's almost no chance you'll succeed, so…why not at least try something that might _work_? Stealing a Gater didn't completely work for me, yeah, but…"

"No—I think this can work. It's risky, but…have you noticed that the army doesn't really care what we do, as long as we stay out of their way? As long as we get whatever we're assigned to done, they don't think about us much. Because _they think we're nobody_. They think when they took your names, you would have nothing left, no…no volition. No drive. No ability to _do_ anything about all this. So they don't watch us as carefully as they should. But you took names again…so you can act against them!"

Datch was skeptical. "Yeah, but that still doesn' mean we can beat a whole army!"

"But at least we would die with honor," Krin said, scarred face grim. Yuugi smiled slightly; she reminded him very much of Chieftenn Shi-kai-dek, Aria, of the Highwind Clann, in that moment. Then he sighed. In the end, she had died honorably…but she had still _died_. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

But Yuugi thought of the Nameless, the wandering beings who barely counted as alive, without any sense of self or any drive of their own, and he knew there was no other way.

"We don't have to beat them in a battle—we just have to keep fighting long enough to get some Gaters and get out of here. A lot of us will die…you know that as well as I do. But…even if it costs me my life…I think…I think it's worth it."

There was a long moment of silence. The slaves looked at each other uncomfortably; they didn't want to stay here, living like this, any more than Yuugi did, but the prospect of rebellion…if they tried this, there was no going back. Even if they weren't killed in the battle itself, if they were caught at any point…that would be the end for all of them. Then, Scat spoke up.

"I'm doing it. He's right—even if it costs me my life, I don't care. This…would be worth dying for."

Skitter managed a weak smile. "If Thca' do it…me, too."

Krin smiled grimly, her fist clenched. "Something worth dying for…yes. I, as well."

Datch shrugged, the spines on his back rippling with the movement. "Eh…why not. Be interestin', at least."

Brell stayed silent for a while after they had spoken. "I…I don't think this is a good idea. I think it's doomed, right from the start. There's _no way_ it will work. But…we're going to die anyway. So I guess it doesn't matter if this is the way we do it."

Frac managed only a shaky nod. If Brell was doing it, he was too.

Yuugi smiled, despite the hopelessness of the situation. It was good not to be alone.

"All right. Now…we should try to contact the other divisions tomorrow—see if anyone will help us. Most won't, probably, but…it's worth a shot. The more people we can get, the better this will be."

Scat settled back more comfortably, leaning against the wall of the prison. "So what do we actually _do_, Yuugi? I mean…we can't just—I dunno—steal a bunch of Gaters tomorrow!"

"Yeah…we're in no condition to fight yet. We'll need more time…and we'll need to be stronger. That means we need to eat more, not just whatever that stuff is they give us, I don't even want to know what it is…and we'll weapons, and time to practice with them…and we'll need to communicate with the other divisions so we can get into position when we're ready to go."

The others stared at Yuugi in stunned silence. This plan was seeming more and more impossible all the time.

"Yuugi…to get into a lot of the rooms in this base, store rooms and supply rooms and stuff, you need access cards or they have those hand-pad things…" Scat said.

"Somehow," Yuugi said, still smiling, "I think we'll find a way…"

Slowly, as if their faces needed time to get used to the expression, the others began to smile too. They still couldn't see much chance for Yuugi's plan, they couldn't see how they were even going to _start_ the plan, but somehow…they were starting to feel a ray of hope.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The Lieutenant stood before his desk, gazing down at the myriad of papers that covered it. Maps, charts, histories, lists of important public figures, complex mechanical diagrams…everything he would need for his next mission.

"I will depart soon," he murmured. "But not yet. Not yet. Not until I know…"

_Not until I know how this will play out._

It was a disgusting World, he thought to himself. Utterly disorganized. The people clinging to each other in despair, wallowing in their disastrous ruin, rather than standing up and fighting, rather than forging a new way of life. His own people had conquered far worse. They lived in a dying World, and yet they did not accept defeat. They _fought_.

"Can I still call them my people…? Have I accepted this too readily?" he said softly, pensively. His mind was drifting again…still standing, his office faded as he was absorbed his memories.

_"Do you call yourself a Darkling—an Akaranian?" Gash said impassively, glaring at the man beside him._

_There was no reply; they strode on together across the harsh Plains, heading for Losarnarch. There would be a great battle—Gash looked forward to it._

_"Answer me, ka-san."_

_"Still not sa-chan, I see. You still don't know me?" He was smiling; it irritated Gash, who privately felt that if it was up to him, he would not know this man even well enough for 'ka-san.'_

_"How can you call yourself a Darkling?" Gash repeated. "What is that you think you are?"_

_"Didn't we talk about this already, ka-san?"_

_"You did not give me a satisfactory answer. Why do act like…like a _human_?"_

_He turned to Gash, still smiling, although somewhat quizzically now. "Do I? If I do…then why don't you know that answer?"_

_Gash had to give him credit—like any Darkling, the man was difficult to pin down in questions about his identity. Gash knew little about him, but he did not _wish_ to know. He simply could not understand him, and knowledge was essential to control of a situation._

_"What about you, then?" he asked Gash. "How can you call yourself a Darkling?"_

_"What is this?" Gash said sharply._

_"You don't think you're a bit…direct? You ask me the question you actually want answered. How normal is that? Not very subtle."_

_"Hmph."_

_"And, really…don't you think you're being somewhat prejudiced? It's such a stereotype, the secretive, evasive Darkling, never gives a straight answer, no one knows who he is or where he comes from, an enigma wrapped around a mystery. Why should I aspire to an artificial measurement of behavior—especially one that is largely perpetuated by humans?"_

_Gash had no answer to this. It was one of those bizarre statements the man sometimes came out with, and it made Gash uncomfortable, mostly because no self-respecting Darkling would have said such a thing to an almost-stranger. They would have said something more along the lines of, 'Should I care what a human thinks of me?" Much more ambiguous. Requires interpretation. Reveals little of the speaker's own feelings. Why could this man not behave in some semblance of a normal manner?_

_But it did reveal one thing about the man. Gash had suspected for some time that he might have either been raised among humans or lived among them for some time. The way he spoke, his gestures, his mannerisms…none of them spoke of a Darkling upbringing. His…_culture_ was jarringly out of place._

_It was clear from the way he spoke that he was educated, very well educated—more than most Darklings, living in their dying World. It implied that he had been raised in another World, but Gash could not imagine why, or where. He strongly disapproved of his own curiosity, which lessened his chances of finding anything out._

_"You know, ka-san," the man said thoughtfully. "You're just as strange as I am. It makes me wonder…if we might be strange in the same way."_

_Gash could not understand this pronouncement at all, but he didn't mind. That was how it should be for two Darklings—secretive, subtle, complex._

_Then he utterly ruined the effect by laughing. Gash sighed wearily. It was going to be a long trip… _

The Lieutenant shook himself, coming back to the present. He gazed ruefully at the papers on his desk, then began stacking them in one corner. He knew himself well enough to see that he would accomplish nothing more tonight.

"Why am I thinking of you now, after all these years…? I had thought those memories gone long ago…"

He unconsciously rubbed the side of his neck. "And why….why didn't you…?"

He stopped himself abruptly. There was no place in his life for nostalgia or regret. He must purge himself of this foolish recollecting.

_I chose this_, he reminded himself. _I chose this, and it must be so. There is no other way. I will achieve my goals…my any means necessary. There is no turning back._

"There is no turning back," he whispered. Then, sighing, he turned and left the room. Wandering through the base, ignoring the salutes of the soldiers, he came to the entrance and stepped out, into the night of his homeland.

The guards watched in wary confusion as the Lieutenant vanished into the darkness of the night, head bowed.

"What's up with him?" one muttered.

His partner shrugged. "I don't ask questions about that one—what I don't know can't hurt me, eh? Maybe he's just taking a walk."

The first guard shook his head. "Sure he is. Well, we'd best stay on alert—I don't plan to be napping when he comes back. Not in front of that one—no mercy at all, him."

His partner nodded, and they sat up straighter, grumbling. No one had ever challenged the fortress; they were losing sleep for no reason at all.

Down the coast, walking at a respectful distance from the waterline, Gash paused, looking up at night sky.

"Would that I could weep," he said softly.


	14. On the Homefront

Chapter 14—On the Homefront

Back in the Shadow World, Joey was pacing the floor of the Kame Game Shop. Solomon thought he might wear a track in it soon—he'd been doing this every day for a week. All of them—Joey, Tea, and Tristan—had come to his shop. They wanted to do something, they wanted to _act_, but there was nothing they could do.

Solomon sighed and returned to wiping off the glass display cases. He, too, was helpless. That other man, Vice, hadn't come in a few days…Solomon wondered where he might be.

_What am I going to do…? _he thought, slumping onto a stool. He felt…empty. He had been trying to deny the existence of other Worlds for years now, but it seemed futile to continue. Somehow, his life had once again become entwined with those of strangers from beyond the universe. He felt strange even thinking those words—beyond the universe.

"Ahh, dammit—what are we gonna _do_?" Joey burst out, pausing mid-step. Tristan, leaning against the wall behind him, sighed.

"I know, man, but…what _can_ we do? I mean…we don't even where he is."

"But it must be…you know…another World, right?" said Tea. "I mean…that girl went with him, I guess, and anyway, where else could it be…?"

"He wouldn't have just gone off somewhere without tellin' us!" Joey insisted.

Tristan nodded. "I know, I know, I agree with you. But that's almost _worse_!"

Tea bit her lip, face twisted in worry. "It all comes back to one thing…it must be…them. The…the Chaos people."

Solomon leaned on the counter, not joining in the discussion. Chaos…he had heard those words before. He remembered so clearly, the discussions that had been held in this very room by that strange group…which had included Vice—or Shang, as they had called him—and Kaltan, his friend…and Solomon's son, Jonas…and Jonas' wife, Serena…

_"Now…Selphi, will you give the intelligence report?"_

_Jonas sat down beside his wife, and a young woman with smooth, rubbery blue-gray skin stood. She was from an amphibious race—Solomon had never asked what—and in her hands she clutched a slightly damp packet of paper._

_"It seems he is looking for something…what, we don't know. But his spymaster—that awful demon, that Oracle—has been scouting, searching…the Overlord wants something badly. Here, and here, it's mentioned…the Oracle said to one of the guards on the western front, 'Is there any news of it yet?' And the guard said, 'No, we've seen no sign of its aura trace.' That seems like it's something magic, doesn't it?"_

_"But what _is_ it?" asked Bob. Bob wasn't his real name, Solomon knew that—the man had told him he changed his name when he left his home. Bob never told Solomon where his home was, or what his original name was, but Solomon did know that he was something called an 'earth elementalist.' Whatever _that_ was._

_Selphi shrugged, or at least it looked like a shrug—her joints were aligned differently than a human's, so Solomon had to guess at her gestures. "I'm not sure, but it must be important, because the Oracle himself is wandering around looking for it, and none of the troops knows what it is. But Kaelta can tell you more about that—she overheard the Oracle talking to the Lieutenant—the Shadow Master." She shivered slightly as she spoke the name of the fearsome creature._

_Kaelta stood. She was unnaturally slight, her bones fine, her body small and too thin. And she had wings. Butterfly wings. Solomon was told she was a 'fey.' Solomon supposed that meant 'fairy,' because she looked like one. Except that fairies weren't real. Solomon shook his head._

_"Well, I was flying, using my glaemour charm to make myself invisible, you know, and I lit on this tree, just lightly, so they wouldn't spot me, and there they were…it was at the train depot, they've conquered most of it, and the Lieutenant was about to travel to the new front—the battle in Oceania—and they were talking…and the Oracle told him to 'keep an eye out for it.' And the Lieutenant didn't ask what 'it' was, just said, 'Your spies are searching everywhere, constantly, and still you cannot find it? How shameful.' It was very odd…"_

_Solomon began taking inventory of the next display case, keeping an ear tuned to the meeting. He wasn't sure exactly what they were talking about—it was very complicated—but he was sure it was dangerous. They were all too young for this, too young to be involved…fighting some kind of—of war?_

_He did not understand them. He did not want them to be real, to believe what they told him. But spending time with them, living with them, listening to them tell stories of their old lives, and how they had been shattered by this 'Overlord'…Solomon could not help but feel for them. And he didn't believe them for a moment when they told him it wasn't dangerous—one of them was missing tonight, that Friikash, the lizard-looking one…Solomon was certain he was dead. Others had injuries—Rayli had lost a _hand_, for goodness' sake! And they told him it was nothing…_

_"Please…don't let them be hurt," he whispered softly. He finished his inventory, headed off to sleep…and still their words echoed in his mind._

_"We must find it soon…or perish."_

"Look—it's Vice!"

Solomon was shaken from his unhappy memories by a knock at the door. A moment later, Vice stepped inside. He bowed politely to Solomon, his falcon companion sitting on his shoulder, then turned to Tea, Joey and Tristan, who had rushed over and begun pelting him with questions at once.

"Vice, is there anything, have you heard anything at all--?"

"No," he said, shaking his head sadly. "There is still nothing. I suspect that wherever Yuugi has disappeared to...there are no witnesses to report it but Chaos soldiers."

"Come on—there must be something! What's the use of all that magic you do if you can't even do _this_?" Joey shouted, slamming his fist into the wall in rage and frustration.

Vice raised his hands placatingly. "Please, calm down. You must understand—there are limits to what I can do. The Chaos Army is one of the most powerful this sector of the Multiverse has ever seen, and even now, in its weakened state, its strength is growing. The Chaos Oracle is a master of espionage, he wields Chaos-element magic in the highest degree, and the Lieutenant is one of the greatest warriors you will ever meet. I have not the strength to find Yuugi. I have not the strength to fight them all."

Tea put a restraining hand on Joey's arm. "We know, Vice…you're doing the best you can. We just have to trust that Yuugi will find a way back on his own."

"…yes…" Vice said softly, his eyes far away. Then he seemed to come back to himself. "Suffice it to say, there is nothing you can do to help Yuugi. For now, we must be patient."

They nodded reluctantly. Tea was the first to break the silence.

"I have to get home, my aunt's visiting us this week, my parents will be furious if I'm not there…"

Tristan and Joey also left for their own homes, their own lives—lives that had been so frequently interrupted by their _other_ lives…by their journeys in the Multiverse. Vice remained, standing in the Kame Game Shop, his brilliantly green eyes dim and shadowed.

"Will any survive…?" he whispered softly.

"Nothing we can do but hope," Solomon said.

Vice started, turned to find Solomon standing behind him. He smiled slightly. "Forgive me—I did not realize you were listening. I know you don't like to think of other Worlds and soforth…"

Solomon hesitated a moment. He did not want to think of it. His life had been complicated enough by those Millennium Items and the magic Yuugi told him they possessed without adding the Multiverse to it. But…

"Please…tell me what's going on," he said in a rush, before he could change his mind. "He's grandson…my only living relative. What's happening, why is all of this…what is all of this?"

Vice regarded the old man intently for a long moment. "You have a right to know," he said at last. "You have a right to know why this has come to you. The 'why' of the Overlord's hunt for Yuugi is this: there was a prophecy made many years ago concerning the one who would defeat the Overlord…and when the Overlord found out that your son and daughter-in-law were going to have a child, he realized that child was the one. The one with the power to defeat him. And so those who had been only an annoyance before became a threat…and were eliminated." He looked away, face shadowed with grief.

Solomon was silent for a moment, digesting this new information. "But…this prophecy was made before Yuugi was born?"

"Before his parents were born…possibly before you were born. It is quite old."

"But then…does this mean…the things I did in my life, the things my son did—were they…fated to happen? Does this mean that Yuugi was _meant_ to be born, they were meant to die, all of this was…was…"

"Fated? No," said Vice calmly. "But destined? Yes…I suppose it was."

"But it's the same thing!" Solomon cried, distressed. He could not have said exactly why he was so upset by this news; it was the thought that everything was already decided…that nothing he did made a difference.

"It is not the same," Vice said sharply. "It is all the difference in the world. There is no _fate_. Fate is a word used to refer to a predestined outcome—something that was unavoidable, something that, from the beginning of time, perhaps, was foretold to happen, meant to happen, doomed, one might say, to happen. But there is no such thing. Destiny, on the other hand…is a choice. Yuugi is destined to defeat the Overlord, how I do not know. But this does not mean that it must happen; it merely means that he is…called to do it where others are not. Able to do it, where others are not. Destiny represents a purpose, a calling, a…a special identity. Some people say that we are all destined for something. But it is our choice to accept or deny that destiny…or to forge our own."

Solomon frowned; the explanation was appealing, but something still troubled him. "But the prophecy…how could it have meant Yuugi if it was made before he was born? Wouldn't the prophet have had to know he was going to be born…?"

Vice shook his head, now smiling reassuringly. "No, no, that's a common misconception of prescience, that it _foretells_, it's more of a forecast really…a kind of representation of possibilities. You see…that prophecy could have meant anyone. It still can. It identified the characteristics of the one who would have the power to defeat the Overlord, but anyone who fulfills these characters has that power. Yuugi is the first person the Overlord found who has them. And so he seeks Yuugi's death…" He sighed, troubled once more.

Solomon nodded slowly, then more firmly. Yes—that sounded reasonable, that…that, he could trust. But something else occurred to him. "But the ability to see the future—that's not the same as this prophecy, this prophecy identified a specific person, but simply what is to come…what about that?"

Solomon would have known better than to ask if he had known more about Vice; Yuugi and his friends would have recognized the look on Vice's face. It signified an imminent flood of learning and scholarly research that could reduce most people to unconsciousness within minutes of its start. Vice was highly intelligent, and knowledgeable in many areas, but he did have a tendency to ramble.

"You see, 'predictions' of the future are like predictions of the weather, in a sense. They say what may happen, what is most probable to happen, what may happen only under certain circumstances…there are many varieties. The best seers can predict the future with a high degree of accuracy because their magic enables them to analyze the probable outcomes of a certain event to a high degree, thus increasing the number of variables considered and minimizing the chance of false conclusions, although of course specific questions are still more difficult to answer accurately than more general ones…"

Solomon slumped back in his stool as Vice spoke on, gesturing enthusiastically and even pacing back and forth at times. Solomon was actually very interested, and listened attentively. So this was the world his son had discovered…a world with rules of its own, with magic and technology beyond his understanding…a world waiting to be explored.

Solomon had been an archaeologist. He was an explorer, a seeker of knowledge, by nature.

Perhaps this Multiverse wasn't such a bad thing after all.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Vice sat on the steps of the Kame Game Shop, watching the constellations. It was around 2 o'clock in the morning…the perfect time to stargaze. In his own World, such magnificent stars were becoming rare.

Vice sighed pensively. What was to become of Akarana, most beautiful of Worlds, now most cursed…? Was it beyond salvation? Was there no other course but this slow decay, this slow downward spiral to destruction…?

He gave himself a mental shake. Now was not the time for such thoughts. There was more at stake than just the fate of his own World. He was the Last of Ancients; Myounichi himself had trained Vice and initiated him into the ranks of the Star Warriors. It was his duty to think of all Worlds, and not only dying Dark World.

"Where are you?" he whispered. "Do you have him, then? Will you give him to the Overlord? Will you seal all our fates…?"

Vice bowed his head, his face pained. "Why…why did you do it? It's been more than a decade, and still I don't understand…why?"

He sighed and leaned back again, watching the stars. "Do you think if it still? Not a day has gone by that I did not think of you…but perhaps you've forgotten all of it. You were always very practical that way…"

His eyes closed, and he sank into his memories…

_"What should we do,_ arochi_? Rayli's hurt, she can't fight, we're outnumbered…can we hold this position?"_

_Kaltan surveyed the field with utter calm. The sight of the vast black swarm that was the Chaos Army didn't unnerve him at all._

_"The others will reach us soon. Until then, we will hold the point and protect kachi-ka."_

_Vice smiled despite their dire situation. "Can't you just call her Rayli? She asked us to."_

_He shrugged dispassionately. "It is nothing to me. I do not know her, and I will not call a stranger by her name."_

_"You don't call me by my name either," Vice pointed out, trying to provoke Kaltan._

_"I know you too well to use it now," he replied simply._

_Vice laughed. "Ah…you've beaten me again, _arochi_."_

_Kaltan made a sound somewhere between a scoff and a sniff. "Come. There is a battle to be fought!"_

_They drew their swords, twin blades forged together, made to fight together, and took up their positions back-to-back. The enemy broke upon them like a wave on a rock, and their blades darted in and out, so quickly they were a blur. None could withstand their power when they fought as one…_

Vice smiled reminiscently. "You were the strongest warrior I had ever met, _arochi_…you could always beat me at swords. But when I used my knives, you always lost…you could never get used to the range difference…"

He lay back, eyes half-closed. Vice was exhausted from long days and nights of searching…a short rest wouldn't hurt. He would just stay here for a moment…

"I can imagine the look on your face if you knew I still called you _arochi_…and what you'd say, too…'how can you call yourself a Darkling?'" Vice laughed softly. "What would you call me if we met again, I wonder? Would you call me an enemy…?"

"Would you kill me too?"


	15. Preparation for Insanity

Chapter 15—Preparation for Insanity

Yuugi and Scat were crouched next to two slaves from division 03. Division 24's shift was over, and they were about to be moved to another area, so the two were taking the opportunity to tell Tam and Mack about the plan.

Yuugi thought Mack must have been a mariner in his former life—he was tan and weathered, and he sometimes spoke with a faintly nautical twang. Tam was also very weathered, and she had a tendency to call their cell a 'berth' and say things were 'shipshape.' But neither of them knew that it was _them_ who had been sailors—they thought it was something they remembered about someone else.

They had each told Yuugi their story during the shift—a story that was so similar, Yuugi was sure they had known each other; they even included a person of the other's description in their stories. But for all this, they both claimed not to have known each other until they met in the Chaos fortress, which was where they had always lived, of course.

Yuugi couldn't imagine being separated from your own _life_ like that—so much so that you couldn't remember a close friend even when you looked them in the face and _recognized_ them. It only increased his determination to thwart the Overlord.

"So what we need are supplies…tools from the construction, extra materials—anything you can find. Just make sure no one will notice it's gone, and no one catches you. Got it?"

They nodded as one, wearing identical grins. Tam and Mack had been eager to join what they called the Resistance. "Just leave it to us!" said Mack.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The next day, division 24 was assigned with division 19 again, this time stitching uniforms for the army. The two found Brent, Fletch, and Whir sitting together, and quickly took places beside them.

Brent and Whir were both skilled with the needle and thread, Fletch much less so; his ineptitude was more than made up for by Brent, though. Scat was passable from long practice, but Yuugi had no idea where to start.

"So…so how do you get the thread through the hole in the top?" he asked, holding up the needle awkwardly.

Brent took pity on him and knotted the thread through the needle for him. "Now, just put the needle down through the fabric and up again…down and up, down and up…that's it. Try to keep the stitches small."

Yuugi did the best he could, and managed to cobble together a jacket, although his fingers were bleeding from numerous needle pricks by the end. He explained the plan to the his three friends from division 19.

Brent was thoughtful. "I like it, but it's missing something."

"What?" Yuugi and Scat asked; they were sure they'd thought of everything.

Brent smiled broadly. "A _flag_! That's what we need. With a symbol of our own. We can sew one with some of the scraps, it doesn't have to be too big…maybe some uniforms too, if we have time, but we probably won't. Badges or something, then. What should our sign be?"

Scat stared at Brent, stopping her sewing. "Are you crazy? On top of everything else, you want uniforms and a flag? What do we need that for?"

Brent shrugged. "You can't just have an army—you need them to feel like they can win. We need to feel like a group, like…like we can face the Chaos Army on equal footing. Right now we're a bunch of slaves stealing from our masters. But if we have a flag—a symbol of our unity—we become a _resistance_, a proper rebellion. So we need one!"

Yuugi hesitated a moment, thinking, then nodded. "Yeah…you're right. These Chaos soldiers think of us as nothing…it's time we were something. Symbols…symbols…"

"Maybe an animal?" said Whir. "I've always wanted to see an animal…"

Scat rolled her eyes. "C'mon, you've never seen an animal? You're the one who gets to go outside!"

Whir frowned thoughtfully. "Well…well, I feel like I've heard of them, or someone told me about them, but…I don't think _I _ever saw one."

"…a phoenix," said Yuugi softly.

"A_ what_?" said Scat.

"A phoenix," Yuugi said, looking up from the jacket he was stitching. "They're birds from legend…they have wings like flame, they're huge and their tears can heal, and when they die, they burst into flame and they're born again from the ashes…that's a good symbol, right? They tried to kill all of you, they took your names, but you gave yourselves new names…you brought yourselves to life again. So, a phoenix."

"Yeah…yeah! Phoenix," Whir said slowly, testing it out. "Phoenix…I like how it sounds! What does it look like?"

"Like a huge, fiery bird," Yuugi said.

Whir smiled conspiratorially. "One phoenix flag, coming up. And…maybe some jackets at least, they wouldn't be big…they never really ask us how much cloth we use, they only care about filling quota for what we _make_…"

"That's great, Whir! I really think…we've got a chance," Yuugi said, smiling. It was all coming together, really coming together, it was really _happening_…!

"I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when we break out of here," Scat said, plunging the needle into a fresh piece of cloth with relish.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The days passed, and the slaves were looking better fed and happier than they had in a long time. Not all of them joined the Resistance—only the boldest dared to risk death on such a long shot. But there were some…and for Yuugi, that was enough. They were fighting. They weren't giving in.

But there was still one pressing problem—while most of the storerooms they were stealing from opened with a palm pad by the door, and most of what they were stealing could be furtively carried out of the room during a shift if they were careful, the room with the Gaters required a keycard. They couldn't steal a Gater ahead of time, either—the room was more heavily guarded than most of the base, and a careful count was kept of the Gaters. It would have to be on the day of their escape…and it would have to happen fast. The room would be sealed, and they must have a keycard. But the only way to steal one was…

"I'll go," said Yuugi. "I'll steal it. This is the biggest risk we've taken yet…this was my idea, I'll take the risk."

"No!" Scat said. "If you get caught, the whole thing is finished—you're the _leader_! Besides, Chaos is already looking for you, right? If you get caught, they might check who you are, and then what? It's gotta be someone else. You can't go."

"Scat…getting this keycard…"

"I know. Whoever does it may get caught…it's really, really dangerous. And if they get caught, they'll die. But it can't be you, Yuugi!"

"Then who?" said Datch, hunched down next to them in the cell. "It's gotta be someone small…fast…quiet…"

"Skitter," Scat said simply. "She can sneak up on anyone, and she's tiny. She'll be able to get the keycard. She's better at sneaking around than you, Yuugi, and anyway you're pretty clumsy…how were planning to steal this thing from someone without them noticing?"

"Er…that is…"

Krin nodded. "Scat is right. Skitter has the best chance—she has to go. She'll get the keycard and bring it back here. She'll have to go at night…sneak into someone's room. She'll take their card."

"But they'll notice. It'll be gone and they'll wake up and need it and then they'll figure it out, we can't, we can't, we—"

"Shut UP, Frac!" Scat shouted, exasperated.

"No—he has a point," Yuugi said fairly. "How can we take one without someone noticing it's gone?"

They all sat, thinking hard. To everyone's surprise, it was Brell, reluctant to take part from the first, who saw the answer.

"…the Lieutenant."

"WHAT?" they all shouted.

"Are you crazy?" said Scat. "He's the _last_ guy we want to bother! I've heard one of his eyes is always awake, and if you try to sneak up on him, he'll see you coming!"

"I heard he can hear anything—even ghosts!" Datch broke in.

"They say he is ruthless and cruel…" said Krin.

Yuugi said nothing. He wasn't sure what to think of the Lieutenant anymore.

Brell shook his head stubbornly. "He's the highest up in the army. He has authority to go anywhere. They'll have given him a keycard that can open any of the doors in the base, but he won't need it because whoever's guarding the door will always open it for him without asking to see the card and check if he has permission. Because he's _the_ Lieutenant. Everyone knows him. It's the only way."

They all looked at each other. He was right, they realized, but…to send Skitter off to steal from the _Lieutenant_…they couldn't wish that on anyone. They couldn't tell her to do something so suicidally dangerous.

"…Thkitter go. Thkitter ge' da car'. Thkitter no' thcar'. Ith okay," she said softly, shaking with fright as she huddled against Scat.

"Skitter, if you're afraid you don't have to do this, it's okay…no one should go near the Lieutenant. We'll find someone else to get it from."

Skitter shook her head, determined despite her fear. "No, Thca'. On'y way. Thkitter do i'. Thkitter be okay."

"Skitter…thanks," Scat whispered, hugging the cat-girl tight. "You're a real hero, ya know?"

Skitter smiled, but it was distorted by her abnormal mouth and teeth. "No worrieth, Thca'. I do for you."

"...we'll do it tomorrow, then," said Datch. "As soon as everyone goes off duty, except for the night watch. Okay?"

They all nodded agreement. They were still for a moment, not wanting to break the circle and hurry the moment of truth, but one by one they slunk off and curled up for what sleep they could find before morning.

Yuugi lay down, exhausted but not wanting to sleep. He didn't want to have any more of those strange and vivid dreams…or did he? He wanted to know who that familiar person was…they felt like a _friend_ somehow, like someone he trusted…but who could they be…?

_"…how soon?"_

_"I'm not sure yet," Zhan said. "But soon. I…just have a feeling. I know it's close…"_

_"The thing you're looking for…?"_

_"Yes," Zhan said, his gray eyes far away. "I…I have to find it. I can feel it inside of me, a part of me…_missing_, a part of me that's not there. I need to find, I…I'll find it. If it costs me my life, if it takes an eternity, I'll find it. I can't not find it…"_

_He watched Zhan silently, concerned. "We'll part. We may not meet again," he said casually._

_"…yes," Zhan replied, his eyes still staring out into the night. "This may be the last meeting for us."_

_He took a deep breath…it was a drastic step, but he felt it was time. "Then…I want you to know my name. My True Name."_

_Zhan turned to look him full in the face, startled. "Your…_name_? But—"_

_"No—I'm sure. I…it has meant much to me to know you. You are…strong. Stronger than anyone I have ever met. And somehow…I have a feeling that our World needs you. I have been happy…to have given you my trust. If you asked for it, I would surely give you my life. You are that kind of person, Zhan. I cannot let you go without telling you my name."_

_Zhan was silent, but there was no need for words now. They were Darklings, creatures of the night. They knew the power, the beauty, of silence._

_"I am…Iankeiru."_

_There was a long silence after this, as was right. The giving of a name was a solemn occasion, not one for unnecessary chatter. Zhan fingered the silver medal he wore on a chain around his neck, thinking. He was leaving soon…_

_"...Iankeiru…I have been happy to know you…if only for this short time. I…must go. What I'm searching for lies onward, and I must find it. But…if we never meet again…I will remember your name—always. And I will remember our great battle together, at the village. And you will remember it too, and when you remember, do not call me Zhan…call me by my name."_

_"No—you are not someone who should give his name to me. Your name…is not for me to have."_

_"Why do you think that? Who is it that you see when you look at me?" Zhan cried in frustration. "Who am I…?"_

_"You are…someone worthy of honor."_

_"Then honor me by hearing my name."_

_"…if that's what you want."_

_Zhan nodded. He did not smile, as a human would have. His face was stern, cold even, but with a longing underneath…a longing for identity. He opened his mouth…_

Yuugi could feel himself starting to awaken, he struggled to resist…he must know, he must hear…

_"I am…"_

But it was useless—he rose wearily from the cold ground, filled with disappointment. Again…again, he had failed to figure out who that strange yet familiar person was! And he had been so close…he felt so sure that he would have recognized that name…

There were other things to think about—today was the day…the day to get the keycard. Today was the day Skitter would risk her life trying to steal from Lieutenant Gash, the most feared man in the Chaos Army…

Yuugi and the rest of the Resistance had trouble keeping their attention on their tasks that day. Their thoughts kept straying to the night…to the dangerous mission…to the one moment on which it all depended.

There was good news, though—everything was going smoothly, and with a few more days, all would be in readiness. Yuugi was heartened by this, although still worried for Skitter. It seemed the day would never end.

But it passed at last, and they sat still and watchful in their cell…waiting…waiting for the signal, the horn call that signaled the end of the day's work. After that they would wait until the changing of the watch, which Yuugi guessed would be an hour, and then…Skitter would go.

The horn blew. Skitter was shivering in fearful anticipation now, and Yuugi was sick with fear watching her. _If this goes wrong…if she's caught…what am I _doing_? I'm sending her to her death…!_

But there was no backing out now. They sat in the taught silence, waiting, listening. They lost all sense of time and place, living only in this moment, this waiting... The next horn call was blown, muted this time—the changing of the watch.

Scat took out a bent wire she had stolen a few days earlier. She crept to the door, stuck her scrawny arm through the bars, and inserted it into the lock.

They waited in tense silence as the seconds ticked past. Then at last, with a soft snick, the door swung open.

"…good luck," Yuugi whispered as Skitter stepped out into the darkened corridor, her cat-eyes guiding her. She soon vanished from sight.

Now they had only to wait.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Skitter crept forward at a snail's pace, trying not to breath too loudly. Her feet made only the softest thud on the floor as she walked forward, trying to still the beating of her heart. She was sure someone must hear the thunderous pounding and come to find her.

Which way…? Left, she remembered. Yuugi had walked the path to the Lieutenant's door, after many false starts and unintended detours, and had finally been able to give Skitter directions. Scat had come up with a clever excuse for Yuugi—she had had Whir write him a fake message on some stolen paper, which he showed to the Chaos soldiers if questioned.

Not one had detected the ruse.

Skitter smiled her distorted smile. It was a good plan, and she was proud to be part of it, even if she was scared.

Right here, then straight past this next crossing. Then…left again. And down, down, further into the base, underground…and forward…

The fear was growing on her again; her fur was puffed out all over her until she resembled a fuzzy balloon. Her tail swung this way and that as she paused, huddled in a dark doorway, mastering her fear and forcing herself to keep walking.

_I have to keep going,_ she thought_. Everyone is counting on me—on _me_! It's an important job! I _have_ to…_

At last she began walking again. One more right…and then…

Here was the wide hall with many rooms, one of which was the Lieutenant's. There—the second door from the right. It was not sealed by a keycard or a palm pad, it was a guest room and was only closed by a simple lock on the door…guests had no possessions to guard and their safety was assumed since they were within their own fortress…

Skitter inserted a claw into the lock and poked around, hardly daring to breath. Yuugi and Scat had told her that if opening the lock tripped some kind of alarm, she must run and find someplace to hide as fast as she could.

There was a soft snick. The door swung gently open.

Skitter, now trembling so she could barely walk, stepped into the small chamber. To her surprise, it was lit. The Lieutenant found it easier to sleep with the lights turned on to simulate daylight—his natural sleep cycle. She saw him lying on his back with his hands folded on his chest in the little shelf that served as a bed.

Where would the keycard be? It must be in his pocket…she looked at his cape, hanging on a peg on the wall. It had no pockets.

Swallowing hard, Skitter crept closer to the man everyone feared. He had pockets on his shirt. She could see a rectangular outline in one through the cloth…

Skitter stood still as the minutes ticked by, taking deep, calming breaths. She would need steady hands for this. She took a step closer, then another.

She was at the Lieutenant's bedside.

Skitter was now in such an advanced state of terror she was almost completely numb. The room seemed dreamlike, surreal. This was not happening. She would wake up soon. This was only a vision in her mind.

She put out her hand, reaching toward the pocket.

The Lieutenant stirred at the light touch, his eyes fluttering. Skitter froze, unable to move but not daring to stay. Gash sighed and rolled on his side—luckily he was now facing Skitter, and the pocket with the card was the upper one. She held still for what seemed like hours, watching his face.

He did not move. He was still asleep.

Skitter reached out again, more warily this time. Her fingers were touching the pocket now, but he didn't move. She reached inside…she gently pulled the card out…

Skitter was holding a Chaos Army keycard in her hand. It was the highest authority level possible—it could open any door in the fortress. She had succeeded.

_Now I just have to get back_, she thought. Gently, so gently, she pulled her hand back, clutching the keycard tight. Still more gently she turned and walked toward the door. Every few steps she had to turn back and look at the Lieutenant. She was on the verge of collapse from terror; she was sure that when she turned, she would see him sitting up and staring at her. That would be the most terrifying thing of all, she was sure.

She had reached the door. Gash had not moved. She was closing the door as quietly as possible. She heard it lock behind her and listened closely. There was no sign of movement, of awakening.

Skitter forced herself to take slow, calm steps back to the entrance of the hall. She forced herself to turn and check behind her once more; the Lieutenant was still soundly asleep, as was everyone else.

Then her nerve broke, and she ran all the way back to the cell as quickly as she could, too terrified to look over her shoulder lest the Lieutenant be there, watching her. Somehow, the thought of him just staring at her was more frightening than the idea of him shouting or attacking her. Just staring, with those terrible violet eyes.

"Skitter—you're safe!"

Scat and Yuugi both hugged her tightly, Krin and Datch patted her back, even Frac and Brell managed smiles. Now that the dangerous mission was over, all the pent-up fear was released and she collapsed into sobs. Finally, she cried herself to sleep.

"We got the keycard…that means…"

Yuugi nodded. "Now we just have to wait for the right time…"


	16. Piece de Resistance

Author's Note: Here it is at last...the final chapter of Chaos Wars part III! Yes, I know it's very late...but last month was National Novel Writing Month, so...okay, I have no excuse. Sorry for the delay, my muse abandoned me! But it's back now...so hopefully section 4 will be up soon. And it won't be as creepy/gruesome as this one. The characters should be much more familiar, as well. So...enjoy the end of Yuugi's incarceration.

Chapter 16--Piece de Resistance

"Y'mean…_today_? As in…TODAY?"

"Shh—keep your voice down!" Yuugi whispered. "And yeah--we need to get everyone together today, and do the final plan. We have to pick a time, too…I'm not sure when would be best…"

Scat was still trying to catch her breath. "It's just…I dunno…I guess it never seemed like it would actually…_happen_. But…today. This…is the last day, then. This is it. After this…if we can't…if it goes wrong…we'll be…."

"…yeah."

They were standing in a wide courtyard, paved with smooth slate flagstones. The Chaos Army was unable to grow enough food to support itself without imports in the soil of Dark World, but they kept a small herb garden for various purposes: emergency medical supplies, components for spellcasters who needed them, a supplement to the base's own supplies. Yuugi and Scat were watering and pruning the plants, although without the aid of pruning shears--the Chaos Army was wary of giving slaves sharp objects and leaving them unattended.

"But you're right," Scat said with a shrug, hoisting the watering can. "We have to do it before the Lieutenant realizes his card's missing. I'll try and get word around…it'll have to be tonight. And it'll have to be fast--we'll need enough sleep if we're going to fight a battle tomorrow."

They were both looking much better now than they had a week or so ago--Scat's bones were starting to recede beneath a layer of renewed fat and muscle, her skin looked much less like a loose sac. All of the Resistance members were starting to look healthier, although the changes were small--it hadn't been long enough to make any vast difference. But something was better than nothing, and they felt ready…or at least, as ready as they could hope to be.

"So…what do you think?" Yuugi said, brow furrowed in thought. "Attack at night? Or would it be better by day?"

Scat frowned. "Day, prob'ly. More troops outside the base, everyone's off working, more confusion. Everyone can get there, we'll just have to act fast."

Yuugi nodded, his mind elsewhere. After tomorrow…it would all be over, whether they won or lost.

"…hey. Do you…think we really have a chance?" Scat said in a would-be casual voice. Her hands were shaking.

Yuugi was silent for a long time. He had been having some second thoughts himself; if he was wrong…he was dragging all of them into it. But…

"I…don't know. Even if we _do_ have a chance, it's not much of one. But we can't just…wait like this. We can't keep just waiting to die. We have to act, and now's the only time--now, while everyone feels confident, like they have a chance. Our only hope is that they'll be caught by surprise, really. Then we might have a chance of escaping. But still…"

"…yeah," Scat said, not wanting to finish the inevitable thought: that no matter how lucky they were, how much the Chaos Army was surprised…it was likely that some or even most of them would die.

It was a chance they had to take.

--o--o--o--o--o--

"Today!?"

Brent and Whir were just as shocked as Scat had been. No one could tell if Fletch even registered the news; he didn't so much as look up. Yuugi and Scat had managed to find division 19. It was easy for them to blend in--division 24 was always scattered around working with the other divisions, and the members of the Chaos Army had no reason to keep track of every last slave in the base.

Yuugi nodded. "Yeah--in a few hours. We have to think of a signal, something to alert everyone..."

"How about when the next shift is called? A bell rings for it, and everyone is changing shifts, it's pretty crazy...we'd be able to surprise them, right?" Whir said.

"Hmm...sounds good," Yuugi replied. "Keep spreading the word, okay?"  
They all nodded. Before long, everyone in the little rebellion would know.

Brent grinned conspiratorially. "It's all set," he whispered, glancing around to make sure no Chaos Army overseer was watching. "The flag looks great, by the way. And here."

He handed Yuugi what looked like a bandanna. On it was embroidered a silver star with seven points.

"What is it?" Yuugi asked, turning it over in his hands.

"We didn't have time to make uniforms...hope this'll do, captain," Brent said, saluting jokingly.

Yuugi smiled, but he couldn't find any words. It didn't matter. They knew what he meant.

--o--o--o--o--o--

Yuugi, Scat, Brent, Fletch, Whir, and Skitter were huddled together in a storage room. The door was opened a crack, and the lights were off. It was in the same large hall as the room that held the gating devices. Soon the changing of the shift would be signaled, and the other slaves in the rebellion would arrive. For now, however, the six of them were waiting together. They were seen as the leaders of the rebellion, the chief instigators, and it was a fair judgment. Yuugi, Scat, Whir, and Brent had been the driving force behind the gathering of weapons and food, the theft of the keycard, and even the very convincing of the others to join them. Skitter was, of course, a hero to all of them: she had stolen from the Lieutenant himself. Fletch never said anything, but he was rarely seen out of Brent's company, so he was mentally lumped together with Brent.

"Not much longer now," Brent muttered. He had been saying this every five minutes or so for the last half-hour. The others didn't protest, however; they were just as nervous as he was.

Yuugi's heart was beating so loudly he thought the Chaos Army might well locate them by the sound alone. He had been in battle before, yes, but he had never had to _lead_ a battle, much less a desperate escape. Yuugi glanced at the tattoo on his arm, or rather, the scar. 24741...a number. They had called him a number.

_...I won't be a number. Whether I live or die today...I'll do it as myself--as Yuugi. Not as a number that _they_ called me._

Yuugi tightened his grip on his weapon. Most of the slaves' weapons were fairly shoddy--trowels with their edges sharpened, a few hammers, some chisels, the poles from brooms. For Yuugi, however, the slaves had managed to steal a blade that was somewhere between a knife and a short sword. The blade was engraved with a rose in full bloom, and the hilt was made to look like it was entwined with vines.

Yuugi raised the blade. The others turned to him curiously.

"What's up, captain?" Brent said. He had taken to referring to Yuugi alternately as captain, commander, fearless leader...it seemed to entertain him.

"...I won't be a number anymore," Yuugi said softly. Taking a deep breath, he put the knife to his arm.

"...that's disgusting," Scat commented mildly. She had seen much worse. "And now you're bleeding like anything--not the brightest thing to do before a battle."

"...I don't care..." Yuugi said through gritted teeth.

Whir sighed. "I understand," she said softly, pulling out some strips of cloth and bandaging his arm. "And I agree with you--no more being numbers. But don't anyone else cut yours out, I don't have nearly enough bandages for that..."

Yuugi sat down on a crate, taking deep breaths. It was really only a superficial wound--he had scraped his arm just deep enough to get rid of the number-scars. It bled freely and it was painful, but it hadn't done any real damage. Besides...they didn't have much chance of fighting their way out of this one. The plan depended on speed, not force.

There was a loud chime, and the sound of many voices and tramping feet. The work shifts were changing.

With a wild yell, Yuugi's little army exploded into the hall. Each one wore an armband with a star, and Skitter was carrying the flag, tied onto a broom handle.

There was confusion for a moment, but the Chaos Army responded quickly. Yuugi's friends had gotten perhaps halfway across the room, toward the gating device storeroom, when Chaos troops met them with weapons in hand. But the slaves struck back fiercely; they had no fear for their lives anymore. The time for fear was long over.

Shovel met axe, broom met sword. In the mad rush, it was hard to see what was going on. Slaves went down with gaping holes in their chests, the sounds of gunfire deafened everyone, and not a few Chaos troops were felled, their skulls shattered by blunt force trauma as slaves pummeled them with jagged stones, rusted iron bars, and even their empty fists.

Yuugi and Scat, followed by Skitter with the flag, were making progress toward the storeroom. It was slow-going, and they had to stop every few moments to fend off Chaos troops, but there was so much confusion that they were able to keep going. They had almost made it...they were yards from the door...feet from the door...they could see it...

The doors of the hall slammed open. Lieutenant Gash strode in, his cape billowing around him, his famed Chaos Sword naked in his hand.

The Chaos troops cheered wildly, and struck out with renewed vigor. Already the floor was slick with blood. The Lieutenant cut a wide swath with his blade, and no one--slave or Chaos troop--dared to block his path. He cut apart everything in front of him without so much as batting an eye.

There was a shriek of pain as Gash bowled Skitter over with the hilt of his blade and brought the sword up for a fatal slash. Yuugi dashed toward her and blocked Gash's blow with his smaller blade. He was sent sprawling by the force of the blow, but he quickly scrambled to his feet.

The Lieutenant looked at him grimly, not a trace of surprise in his face. "I must end this now," he said to Yuugi, raising his sword again. Yuugi raised his own weapon, gripping it tightly to keep his hands from shaking. He knew he had no chance against Gash--the Lieutenant was a more experienced fighter than him, his weapon had a greater reach than Yuugi's, and he was quite a bit taller than Yuugi. But Yuugi had to keep fighting. He had led his friends into this battle, and there was no way the Lieutenant was going to kill them. The only way the Lieutenant would hurt any of them was over Yuugi's dead body.

Which, Yuugi realized, was all too likely. But that wasn't going to stop him.

Then there was an unfamiliar voice chanting strange words. A wave of heat flashed through the room, a brilliant light grew, and there were screams of pain from several of the Chaos troops. The battle ground to a halt as everyone turned to see what was going on. They were just in time to shield their eyes from the explosion.

The high windows shattered, the roof was damaged, the floor buckled. It was magic, powerful fire magic that had destroyed a large number of the Chaos troops and had also done a great deal of damage to the room itself. Yuugi squinted through the smoke--it was...

It was Fletch.

He was standing over Brent, his eyes burning with a fury hotter than the fire he had summoned. Brent seemed to have a leg wound, and was unable to get up. Fletch must have stayed to save him.

Whir pulled Brent to his feet, and the two made their way toward the storeroom. Fletch ran over to Yuugi to help him as the Lieutenant turned back to the matter at hand--killing Yuugi.

Fletch was carrying a bow, probably stolen from the weapons area. He had only a handful of arrows left, but he was a master archer; he would make them count.

Gash cried out in pain as an arrow pierced his left shoulder. His sword dropped to the floor with a clatter. It was meant to be wielded with two hands, and Gash couldn't manage it with only one; although he could lift it with his right hand alone, he would be unable to use the sword to its full extent.

Grimacing, Gash pulled out a shorter blade--he always had a backup plan. Yuugi struck forward with his own sword and slashed Gash's legs while the Leiutenant was distracted. Gash forced himself to stay standing and assumed guard position.

Things seemed more hopeful for the slaves now--the exits to the room had been blocked by the explosion, no more troops could reach them for now, and together Yuugi and Fletch had a decent chance of holding of the Lieutenant now that he had been wounded.

Yuugi held the sword in front of him, and Fletch began preparing another spell. But a tremor struck the building--one of the Chaos troops was also a mage, and he was striking back. A strong wind forced all of them to struggle to keep their footing; Yuugi, Fletch, and the Lieutenant braced themselves.

Something slammed into the ground amidst them. All three were knocked to the floor. Yuugi hurriedly pushed himself to his knees. His ribs felt like they might be broken. Gash also rose to his feet, but Yuugi wasn't paying attention to that. He had eyes only for Fletch.

Fletch was lying on the ground, blood matting his black hair. His face was pained, but he was smiling. Yuugi knelt at his side, too horrified at first to speak.

One of the cieling beams, loosened by the first explosion, had been knocked free by the wind. It had fallen and had pierced Fletch's abdomen. He was skewered, already dying, and Yuugi had no way to help him. Yuugi had seen plenty of horrible things already--Faran Dak's beheading was certainly high on the list--but this was disturbing in a surreal way. It seemed like something that only happened in action movies...not in real life, not to one of his friends...

Fletch coughed feebly, and forced himself to draw breath. "If...you ever see him...tell him...tell Benjamin...that Iankeru died well..."

Another rattling breath entered his lungs and left again. "I will," Yuugi said softly, tears running down his face. "I will..."

Fletch--Iankeru--smiled. His eyes shut.

He was gone.

Yuugi pushed his grief aside for the moment; there were other lives at risk now. Wiping a hand across his eyes, Yuugi turned to face the Lieutenant.

"You will die," Gash said simply. "Will you surrender, or shall the battle continue?"

Yuugi met his gaze steadily. "I know I don't have a chance of beating you," he said, his voice shaking only slightly. "But I'll never stop fighting!"

Then, to Gash's surprise, Yuugi leapt forward and slashed through--his pocket? What possible purpose could he have in cutting open Gash's pocket? He wasn't carrying anything important, was he...?  
Then Gash realized--he had been in his quarters when the alarm was called, studying...the Millennium Puzzle. Without thinking, he had shoved it into his pocket.

_At least one of us will survive this_, Yuugi thought, grabbing the Puzzle. Glancing up at the windows, he threw the Puzzle as hard as he could. It sailed up, through the empty panes, out of the building...

"We'll find it anyway," Gash said. But just as he finished saying it, there was a faint splash. Gash mentally cursed himself for a fool. The Sea had taken it...they had no way to retrieve it now. Even he, the Chaos Lieutenant, wisely feared to disturb the oceans of Dark World.

"It doesn't matter," Gash muttered. "You at least will die--"

"Gotcha!" Scat cried, holding up a gating device in triumph. "Everyone, over here!"

Scat began tossing the devices to the others, and many of the slaves vanished. To where, they had no idea--all that mattered was that it wasn't here. Mack and Tam grabbed one and disappeared together, Whir took one and left, still supporting Brent. Scat turned to Yuugi.

"Catch!" she cried, and threw it towards him. She then disappeared with Skitter, using another of the devices.

Yuugi caught the glittering object in midair. He punched in the familiar coordinates of his home world and activated it as quickly as he could. There was a brilliant flash of light.

The Lieutenant's sword passed through the space where Yuugi had been only moments before.

Gash surveyed the room, taking stock. A fair number of slaves had escaped using stolen gating devices. Several Chaos troops had been killed, and more were wounded. A large number of slaves had also been killed or wounded. The building had taken severe damage. He, Gash, had lost two key prisoners.

The Lieutenant shrugged. He would leave the base captains to report this one.

--o--o--o--o--o--

Solomon pushed aside a stack of papers with a sigh. He had meant to catch up on his accounts, but he couldn't concentrate on them. His mind was elsewhere. Where in the world--or rather, in the Multiverse--was his grandson? He had been missing for weeks now...and Vice still had no idea where to even begin looking. Solomon knew the man was doing his best, but it didn't make him feel any better about it.

"Yuugi...where are you?"

Little did he know his question was about to be answered.

There was a blinding flash of light, and something--or rather, someone--slammed into the floor with a cry of pain. Solomon rushed over to his grandson's side. Yuugi was bleeding heavily from one arm, and he was holding a sword. He was only half-conscious at this point; the journey had been a difficult one.

Solomon was about to grab the phone and dial 911 when he realized that was probably a bad idea--how would he ever explain what had happened? Instead, he called Tea, Joey, and Tristan. At least they might have some idea what was going on.

"Don't worry, Yuugi--it's going to be fine. You're going to be fine. It's...fine," Solomon muttered, pacing frantically.

Yuugi couldn't really hear him at this point. Just before everything faded to black, one thought echoed in his mind...

_I lost it...the Puzzle...it's lost._

Two of them had been captured...but only one had made it home.


End file.
